Sprint 12+ Summary: Holidays and Data

Hey there everybody!
Happy Holidays!

 I'm sorry for the delay it's been a while and this update is long overdue. Sprint 12 has gotten a bit extended due to the holidays. Things have been pretty hectic here and a lot of us (myself included) have been spending extra time with our families and friends. However! Work does continue at a somewhat more sedate pace. Some of the things we've accomplished recently:

• Tanks are more customizable than ever
• The scripting system is 75% implemented
• The HUD has been updated, and now includes a widget for displaying scores
• Some early work for decals such as tank treads, explosions, and smoke effects has begun
• The final version of the title screen is finished courtesy of Kortney
• Fixed a major bug in the map editor saving/loading methods
• As always bug fixes and minor tweaks
• Major optimizations to tessellation code used to generate graphs for path finding
• Lots of profiling/timing

As mentioned we've come a long way on the scripting system and have begun work on some of the more 'flashy' graphical mechanics. Through a combination working on these two systems we finally hit a bottleneck where the game simply doesn't run fast enough to do all of what we want (the frame rate drops below 30 FPS). To fix this we've started with analysis; we've been profiling the code a lot in the past two weeks and doing what we can to optimize it. In one example MathForTanks did a really excellent job at optimizing the tessellation code we use for path finding and achieved nearly 3000% speed increase (That's a difference of 30 minutes down to 0.1 seconds for a large map!). Unfortunately this doesn't apply in-game but is really nice for saving maps. After a lot of profiling and analyzing data we've come to the conclusion that pygame is using up most of our processing for rendering which is not really a surprise. In order to improve this we are currently doing more research and we may switch to a different library such as piglet or pyOpenGL if we cannot get pygame to achieve the speeds we need.

Also a big round of applause to Kortney who just recently got hired at The Athens Messenger as a Graphic Designer! Congrats!

Well that's about all there is for now, I don't expect we'll have another update until after the Holidays. So until then, take care!

Have Fun!

--Donald

Sprint 11 Summary: Files!

Hello!

It's time once again to give an update on our progress for UberTanks! Sprint eleven hasn't been quite as flashy as some of our other sprints, but what we've been working on is still pretty important to the project and we've been making some decent progress. Early this sprint as we were getting into the scripting system we realized that the current file format for our saved maps was pretty inadequate and that it would probably be necessary to fix this problem before we could implement the scripting in the way that we wanted. So that's what we did! The file format has been updated and now reflects the maps and the objects much better. Here's the full list of what else we've been up to:

• Art assets have been pouring in just like always. As previously stated, our artists are awesome!
• The file format for .utf (uber tanks field) files has been updated.
• Loading and saving for .utf files has been upgraded so that the program can determine which version of our map files it is using.
• As always there have been bug fixes and a few tweaks.
• A few updates and tools have been added/fixed in the editor.
• We've started work on allowing the player to pick a custom color for their tank.

During sprint twelve we'll be working extra hard to get the scripting system done which will open up all sorts of new things to work on and play with (sound, score, play modes, etc). To accomplish this I also have vacation time coming up next week, a lot of which will go toward working on UberTanks. Also we're hoping to have a nice surprise ready by the end of the month for anybody who's actually keeping track, so stay tuned and pay attention. Well that's about all for this time, so until then;

Have fun!

--Donald

Sprint 10 Summary: Life

There has been a lot going on this sprint, but unfortunately most of it hasn't been related to UberTanks. A lot of life issues have taken their toll this past sprint on our members and as such we have not gotten as much done as we had hoped. One of our programmers has been sick (MathForTanks), I was out of the state for a good portion of the first week, Justin has been particularly busy with work, and a list of other things have happened. There is some good news however: Our great artist Jessica Staub has been hired at Indie Pub Games as a Casual Game Manager. Congratulations Jessica! She has said that she is excited for this new position, but still wants to work on UberTanks in her free time. Now for the low down on what has been happening this sprint:

• Thanks to some great work by Ashley the official logo for UberTanks has been finalized. Once it goes through some final cleanup you should start seeing it up around the site very soon.
• Work on the scripting system was halted for a little bit due to all the life issues our team has been facing, but as of last night we are back on the ball and working toward getting that implemented.
• As always there have been bug fixes and a few tweaks.
• Using this great article as reference we were able to program a pretty nifty color-picker which we should be able to use to allow players to customize the color of their tanks soon.

That's all this time everybody, see you again in two weeks!

 Have fun!

--Donald

Sprint 9 Summary: Parts!

We're back once again!

As always we have more exciting happenings here in the world of UberTanks. The latest we've been up to includes:

• Now that we have a functional field editor, work has begun on the scripting system for the game. There have been a few snags with implementation but we hope to have those figured out soon. Once the scripting system is working though it will allow us to add lots of new features to the game including but not limited to: Scoring, dynamic objects, sound, and new gameplay modes!
• Justin has been working on the parts system like a champ and the first version of that is just about ready to hit our beta testers. Now players will be able to customize their tanks to suit their own personal play style with a list of available parts.
• As always there have been a few bug fixes and a few tweaks to the code as well. 
• Last sprint the shear volume of art assets that came pouring in through my inbox made it clear that our system for sharing those assets was sorely lacking. To that end we have made revisions in our pipeline so that art assets can be more quickly and easily passed back and forth between team members through the repository.

This sprint hasn't been quite as exciting as our last few sprints have been. Our team members have busy lives and for many a lot has happened in the last two weeks. It's important to remember that everyone working on the project is doing so in their spare time. We'll be sure to catch up more next sprint!

Until then!

--Donald Bush

Our artists are great!

Hey everybody!

I just wanted to take some time to acknowledge the hard work that is currently being done by our excellent art team! All of the artists have been doing a great job and spending tons of hours working away for the project. Most especially Ashley, Kortney and Jess have really been out-doing themselves. Between the three of them my inbox has been flooded with messages containing new super-cool images almost every day. In fact there have been so many images that I haven't been able to comment on all of them yet. To that end, all three of them have earned gold stars!

Keep up the great work guys!

--Donald

Sprint 8 Summary: Maps!

Hello once again!

We've been hard at work over these past two weeks, so it's time for an update! Here's the latest:

• After a list of delays, the field editor is finally functional! It doesn't have a very long list of features yet, but it is working and we have already made a few cool maps with it to test out.
• We've begun work on the parts system; soon players will be able to customize their tank's parts and performance to match their play style!
• We've begun revising the collision detection a bit to make it more compatible with the scripting system that will be coming soon.
• As always there have been a few bug fixes and a few tweaks to the code as well.
• The art has exploded! With four artists we've been getting new fun art assets and concepts on a daily basis. I thought we had gotten a lot during sprint 7 but the artists have definitely outdone themselves this sprint. Look for more art to be over on the media pages soon!
• We've begun the transfer from place-holders to actual art assets: new background tiles courtesy of Jess have made their way into the game along with the unleashing of the field editor. They really bring out a new pizazz to the fields!
• We've updated our issue tracking system so that programmers and beta testers can now report bugs, crashes and issues much easier and be able to see issues created and resolved by others.

That's about it for this sprint! In sprint 9 we look forward to more robust parts customization, tanks with custom stats, the beginings of the scripting system and of course having much more fun!

Well that's all this time,

--Donald Bush

Sprint 7 Summary: Art!

Hello Everyone!

It has been two weeks (already!) so it's time for another update on what we've been up to. Here's the low down for this sprint:

• We added some (more) new members to the team, check them out over on the Uber-Crew page. 
• Work has progressed on the field editor. We hit a few snags and had to do a lot of revision to get it working, but it is nearly done. 
• We have lots of background tiles to play with now, and as soon as the editor is done we'll be able to see them in all their glory.
• Of special interest this sprint is the art, we've been getting a lot of fun and excellent art from the artists ranging from concept art to logos to sprites and everything in between. With some luck we should start seeing more art being added to the website in the near future!
• Tanks have drift! We've been working on some of the physics used in the game and now tanks can drift (a little). We hope to use this in the future to simulate special ground types such as ice or sand. 
• We have a following! The blog broke the 1000 hits mark this sprint! (In just two months)

That seems to be the biggest chunk of the new stuff this time. During sprint 8 we hope to have some of the early art in the game, finish the field editor, revise the collision detection a bit, and start working on customizable parts for the tanks themselves.

As a special treat; check out some of the latest from our artists:

Tiles

Tanks

Concept

Sprint 6 Summary

Hello again!

So here we sit at the end of sprint six for the project; quite a few things have happened this sprint:

• We added some new members to the team, check them out over on the Uber-Crew page. Also be prepared because our team is still growing and there are more people on the way!
  
• We began work on the field editor! We're hoping to have the first workable version ready for testing in a couple days.
• Art is happening! The first results from our artists have started to creep their way into the game. Specifically we now have much much prettier background tiles to play with! 
• Other than that this sprint has focused mainly on organizing people; there are a lot of new faces and there have been many meetings these past two weeks to get everybody headed in the right track.
•  We have also greatly improved the functionality of the menus, and some of the core game mechanics. 

That's all for now everybody! Stay tuned though, because more exciting things are on the way in the near future! I hope you're having as much fun as we are!

Until next time,

--Donald Bush

Cheshiretank earns a gold star!

I just want to take a moment to point out that our team member Cheshiretank has earned a gold star! Yesterday she voluntarily proof-read the entire website and fixed a number of my errors (I am a programmer not an English major all). Thanks go out to her for her excellent work!

Sprint 5 Summary

Well it's now the end of sprint 5 of the project. A lot has happened here recently. We have a lot of new team members to introduce: a few artists, some beta testers, a new programmer, and even a musician! You can check out the latest member over on his bio page. Look to see the bios for the rest of our new people up on the site soon.

As far as the game goes we recently added some new features including a new control scheme, proper render level handling, and some behind the scenes systems to make the game run a little faster. Mostly this sprint has comprised of cleaning up code and organizing both code and people.

Soon we plan to have the first version of the level editor ready for the testers to try out. We're also planning to have some new game modes and some basic sounds ready by the end of the next sprint. Also since we now have some artists officially on board with the project, we should have some concept art in the media page in the next couple weeks.

Things are getting really exciting, and we're all looking forward to how the game progresses!

Until next time!

--Donald Bush

Long Overdue Update

Hey everybody!

I know it's been a while since you've seen an update, but don't let that fool you. We've been up to tons of stuff behind the scenes here. We've interviewed and added a number of new people to the project including several artists. Look for their bios to be up on the site soon! The beta testers have been hard at work and doing a great job. A special GOLD STAR goes out to Tim Smoot for some of his excellent input last sprint.

Play safe and live fun,

--Donald Bush

Beta Version 1.0

The Beta for UberTanks has officially started! Version 1.0 has been sent to the first round of beta-testers, and we'll be looking forward to some feedback soon. There were a few snags in getting the game to people, but with a little work it was accomplished with only a little bit of delay.

First Beta release coming soon! (July 17th)

Hey Folks! We've been working hard and making a lot of progress on the project. The first release is on track and should be done soon!

The Beta Version 1.0 is coming on July 17th so here's a few details about it:

• This release will only include 'death-match' and 'team death-match' modes.
• Single player only. (Don't expect multi-player for a good while)
• For now I'm going to keep it private (beta testers only, no public downloading yet) there are two reasons for this:
• 1) I want to find bugs, I know they are there, I just need them to be found.
• 2) I don't want anyone to mistake what it looks like now for what it will look like when it's done. This will still be a very rough version, with only a few basic features implemented.

• Those interested in becoming a beta tester should email me.

We are in need of artistic talent, if you have some skills and are curious then please feel free to send me an email. Also in the works is a site update with pages for the history, mechanics, and concept of UberTanks as well as a video or two of what the game looks like right now. Look for that to be coming soon.

Play safe and live fun,

--Donald Bush

UberTanks has arrived!

UberTanks is now here! We have a new blog, some new faces and lots and lots of new code! Look for more updates to follow soon!