tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83044678368040460492024-02-28T15:43:26.805-08:00Xing DevelopmentUpdates and news for XING: The Land BeyondXINGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06638960993002097769noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-71238345940935993992019-02-06T07:21:00.000-08:002019-02-06T07:53:58.070-08:00A Release of Ice and Fire <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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FIRE</span></h4>
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<h3>
XING Finally Hits PlayStation 4 in Six Days</h3>
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We did it!<br />
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XING: The Land Beyond will be released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR in <b>JUST 6 DAYS </b>on <b><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: large;">February 12th 2019</span></b> on the PlayStation Store!<br />
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There will also be a release week discount for PlayStation Plus Members ;)<br />
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*Note, our Europe Release Date will be February 13th, not the 12th. Or maybe later. I don't know...but now I understand why Europe seems to usually have different release times! #redtape<br />
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Agnirok</h3>
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Here is a peek at the PlayStation Exclusive Level, Agnirok:
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(Feel free to share these photos and gifs)<br />
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Agnirok is a combination of our Short Stories and Main Levels, and includes a new puzzle mechanic! It follows the story of Rila, a young captain trying her best to be a good leader.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's not all just rocks and lava! ;)</td></tr>
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Players will get to explore both watery and fiery caves in this new fantastical environment.<br />
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It's been a long road to get to this point, and we are so excited to be able to share the game with PlayStation gamers.<br />
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<h3>
PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR</h3>
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For those of you who are still unsure or are new to this story, XING: The Land Beyond is made to be played <b>BOTH</b> on your TV using the PlayStation 4 and in your PS VR headset. Games will save either way you play!<br />
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Would you cross this bridge?<br />
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8;">
ICE</span></h4>
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Ice Scape</h3>
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On another note, we also have <b>something new in store for ALL of our fans</b>, PC included :)<br />
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This is the short story of Toklo, a teenage boy with a fiery spirit, growing up in this frigid landscape.<br />
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This is also a combination level, somewhere between our Short Stories and Main Levels, and features a brand new story along with a complex puzzle (for those who want the extra challenge).<br />
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With these 2 new spirit stories added to the game, the spirit count now numbers at 14 characters with 14 tales!<br />
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This Ice Scape will be a free DLC for all owners of the game, and will be included with any new purchases of the game from here on.<br />
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It's been a long time coming, and we are thrilled to finally have our game playable on a console.<br />
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Everyone cross your fingers and hope we do well enough on PlayStation 4 to continue making games at White Lotus Interactive! <3<br />
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<br />Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-42901112989744100122018-04-06T10:00:00.000-07:002018-04-06T10:00:09.143-07:00A Humble CelebrationAnnouncement!<br />
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XING: The Land Beyond is now available on the Humble Store! If you've been waiting to get the game DRM-Free, here it is:<br />
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<a href="https://www.humblebundle.com/store/xing-the-land-beyond">https://www.humblebundle.com/store/xing-the-land-beyond</a><br />
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If you already own and enjoy the game, be sure to share this with your friends so they can have their own puzzling adventure too!<br />
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Have a lovely weekend!<br />
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- Koriel and JohnKorielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-70207555880993989512018-03-07T13:22:00.001-08:002018-03-07T13:26:26.339-08:00XING on PS4 and PSVR - Adventures in making a UE4 PS4 gameIt's time to address the elephant in the room. We often get asked this question: When is XING: The Land Beyond coming to PS4 and PSVR?<br />
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And the answer?<br />
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Uh, a few months, maybe. Depends on a few things. <i>BUT IT WILL BE WORTH THE WAIT! </i>Let's get into the details.<br />
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<h4>
The Good Stuff</h4>
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Not looking for a lengthy tirade on my trials and tribulations with the PS4? Here's a quick TL;DR about the upcoming PS4 version of XING: The Land Beyond.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUizcnurSvz8qM03DohQ5zdGusVbItHuH5lgKwPNpxTEPWCaTeraxKXPLhKzn6WuYkHobEis4O25qyvejkv4bx-M9b2BHuB3pKOHBHi8PXB7AQgUiRaEDGIoU6EfNlJGDapgyMlz_lyc/s1600/XING+The+Land+Beyond+-+Agnirok+-+Face+2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="1600" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUizcnurSvz8qM03DohQ5zdGusVbItHuH5lgKwPNpxTEPWCaTeraxKXPLhKzn6WuYkHobEis4O25qyvejkv4bx-M9b2BHuB3pKOHBHi8PXB7AQgUiRaEDGIoU6EfNlJGDapgyMlz_lyc/s640/XING+The+Land+Beyond+-+Agnirok+-+Face+2.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from our PS4 Exclusive Volcano level "Agnirok"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<ul>
<li>It's a 1:1 port of the PC version, plus an additional level. Every feature and location will be available with no compromises</li>
<li>We will ship with PS VR support right out of the box - no separate version necessary </li>
<li>We'll be offering multiple graphics-quality settings to go along with PS4 Pro support</li>
<ul>
<li>Base PS4</li>
<ul>
<li>"Speed": Mix of medium and high settings, 1080p unlocked framerate, usually averaging around 40+ fps</li>
<li>"Quality": Mostly high settings, 1080p, locked 30 fps</li>
<li>PS VR: Low settings, slightly upscaled to native res, locked 60 fps</li>
</ul>
<li>PS4 Pro</li>
<ul>
<li>"Speed": Mostly Ultra settings, 1080p, unlocked framerate, usually averaging around 50+ fps</li>
<li>"Quality": Mostly high settings, 1800p upscaled to 4k, locked 30 fps</li>
<li>PS VR: Mix of low and medium settings, downsampled to native res, locked 60 fps</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>XING will support DS4 on televisions, and DS4 or Move in PS VR mode</li>
<li>It's currently running super well and feels awesome on PS4. Aside from a few minor technical issues and some performance considerations, I'm nearly ready to submit the game to certification. I'm shooting for submission by the end of this month, fully expecting to have to resubmit at least once. </li>
<li>And yes, there are trophies!</li>
</ul>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ayFx1Rrr2suHV9jvEAed5TaZJDBXo-v8CBtIbqtVNCKsS0ZJdb33Rp5uLGbHXUp3y01k-hZpM3ul3kOdkQdYNUefxpyVjrXp3Euvta2GKKI9gc9B9eB1BpWCjw06YO_i0uLmsHmf3V_I/s1600/trophy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ayFx1Rrr2suHV9jvEAed5TaZJDBXo-v8CBtIbqtVNCKsS0ZJdb33Rp5uLGbHXUp3y01k-hZpM3ul3kOdkQdYNUefxpyVjrXp3Euvta2GKKI9gc9B9eB1BpWCjw06YO_i0uLmsHmf3V_I/s640/trophy.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aw yeah first trophy winner right here</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Right off the bat I'd like to say there are things I can't specifically go into due to NDAs and such, but I'll try to broadly cover my journey into PS4 development.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h4>
History with Sony</h4>
<br />
Believe it or not, we actually started development (and ran our Kickstarter, and founded WLI!) before the PS4 was even released. At that time, we were developing using UDK (Unreal Engine 3), and had absolutely no plans or hopes of releasing XING on anything but PC. Consoles seemed like only a possibility for those releasing pretty big games, or indie arcade-like titles. The PS3 was really showing it's age at that time as well, and like Jon Snow, I really knew nothing about development beyond pressing "compile" and hoping it works.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="height: 0; padding-bottom: 49%; position: relative; width: 100%;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="giphy-embed" frameborder="0" height="100%" src="https://giphy.com/embed/13f5iwTRuiEjjW" style="position: absolute;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/itt-13f5iwTRuiEjjW"></a><br />
<br />
Fast forward to 2014. At this point we were really getting caught up in the buzz surrounding VR since we casually added Oculus DK1 support to our Kickstarter goals. Companies were starting to notice us due to our attendance at GDC and E3 that year, and we started a rapport with Oculus, NVIDIA, Epic, and others, each providing hardware and/or support for our humble game. We also switched to Unreal Engine 4 at this time - knowing full well we would be redoing a lot in exchange for modernity and flexibility.<br />
<br />
That flexibility almost immediately payed of with our trip to PAX Prime (West) that year. Admittedly, we somewhat front-loaded our trade and consumer show trips throughout development, but it was at PAX where we first ran into Sony. We had heard about an unnamed PS VR prototype at E3, and they told us to talk to them at IndieCade. One more show later and we were on the list to receive a PS4 devkit!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9EyIAb63wLOLPlpR-q3BDTAEZXj6OATixYcUsLcXEvjh8Fx9pMCaWVhnO33QMYRg3i_wqT-sERoCNkg71xmbQm7Tl0UYcL5yof-v5daiVjKuoSuRuHqoYA89yPCIkaoTq17jqqIa5Gu_j/s1600/original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9EyIAb63wLOLPlpR-q3BDTAEZXj6OATixYcUsLcXEvjh8Fx9pMCaWVhnO33QMYRg3i_wqT-sERoCNkg71xmbQm7Tl0UYcL5yof-v5daiVjKuoSuRuHqoYA89yPCIkaoTq17jqqIa5Gu_j/s400/original.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think at one point we had 7 PS VR devkits - they kept on revising it!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
At that point XING was still pretty prototype-y. We had a few demo versions of the final levels, and a very rough layout of how the final game was going to be like. (We'll do a postmortem at some point detailing how flawed our approach was!) Still, I just got a PS4 devkit and I wanted to see how the game would run on it. After a month or so I was able to port our beach demo to the system, and things were looking good!<br />
<br />
Then:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiNMV_kF96En-ctAxTYpbyP2Bw5XSMv_6RxwEPvTb4YMoDtLYqfNLt40Z2ndna9BhtKppSV0Z3PtB0TL77cSH2737vMYpCsiK6ujQ_1B9-q5TpQ8qKrzeZO5YPs9HhP9mlu8ZdIYyhhAeq/s1600/ScreenShot00018.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiNMV_kF96En-ctAxTYpbyP2Bw5XSMv_6RxwEPvTb4YMoDtLYqfNLt40Z2ndna9BhtKppSV0Z3PtB0TL77cSH2737vMYpCsiK6ujQ_1B9-q5TpQ8qKrzeZO5YPs9HhP9mlu8ZdIYyhhAeq/s640/ScreenShot00018.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some things familiar, some things not so much (9/2/2015)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now:<br />
<br />
<div style="padding-bottom: 54%; position: relative;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/ComplicatedContentBluefintuna" style="left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
Based off of our test on PS4 and Sony's eagerness to get us on their platform, we officially committed to a PS4 version in late 2015. We were hoping to get a simultaneous release in late 2016.<br />
<br />
Remember that aside about "planning" earlier?<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
Turns out releasing a fully 3D and detailed 15-hour game on two SKUs with support for three brand new headsets and five different input methods with a company comprised of only three recent collage grads is a somewhat unreasonable goal.</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/XFu47.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="380" height="293" src="https://i.imgur.com/XFu47.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nope</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Midway through 2016 we knew that there was no way we were going to hit our goals. I had to make a difficult decision:<br />
<br />
I knew that if I released XING simultaneously on all these new platforms right when they were beginning to take off, we could expect the best sales. Vive and Rift had just come out and people were extremely hungry for content, especially for anything longer than a short demo. PS VR was set to launch in October, and naturally the thought of being a launch title was appealing. Sony had already inquired about our readiness, and we <b>really</b> wanted to deliver. Every opportunity seemed like it was on ticking clock.<br />
<br />
I had a choice:<br />
<ol>
<li>Cut literally everything that wasn't 100% working (which would have been a lot), shore up all the loose ends in the game as quickly as possible, dump in a "you win" screen, and focus all remaining effort on making sure the game technically worked on all platforms.</li>
<li>Bite the bullet and tell Sony we weren't ready. </li>
</ol>
I knew that if I chose option two, we would lose out big financially. We would lose out on all the marketing opportunity of launch, the hype of VR, and the momentum of our recent trailers and shows. Going forward we would also lose the ability to simultaneously launch, as our company's bank account was starting to deplete and we would be more than tapped before finishing up work on both platforms.<br />
<br />
Despite all this, I decided to wait.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFj8NhIZMC0_nFB7lKCjsnAwssA1A9ZBSCfgqzmRYlZCZdmCBmAuStwIH4U4Yj2O2Mma8LVANOrSUn10xDve_zQIXSQV72BQS79W2qRVFNcNw7NZhNE1VpmvfEtkIKljqhdH1aVhCotg/s1600/f6e5ebd4be43a4951a8415cddf833591.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="1600" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiFj8NhIZMC0_nFB7lKCjsnAwssA1A9ZBSCfgqzmRYlZCZdmCBmAuStwIH4U4Yj2O2Mma8LVANOrSUn10xDve_zQIXSQV72BQS79W2qRVFNcNw7NZhNE1VpmvfEtkIKljqhdH1aVhCotg/s640/f6e5ebd4be43a4951a8415cddf833591.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I had a hard look at my goals, and at what I wanted out of this project. Ultimately, above all else I wanted to create, and create something I was proud of. I knew that by spending another year on development, the game would be simply more enjoyable, and I realized I'd rather have fewer people really enjoy their purchase than lots being frustrated by something that was just unfinished.<br />
<br />
And so sing the muses. We ended up releasing on PC / VR just about a year later, as a complete experience, and I couldn't be more proud of it.<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="190" src="https://store.steampowered.com/widget/299400/" width="646"></iframe>
<br />
Or alternatively,<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXJFqRdXdrQvMBU0n2br-5mYvGbmfmW2xaAXbSFTnvwhuEbTg_0nolcsOLH5VgA_Siiobhyj21lr7m3TaE-AdXG3AtoqnG59sTGESaN4P_6qqUwnyAKI3gbT8wfmUry4im6b_GoiwH99sh/s1600/PIRATEBAY.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXJFqRdXdrQvMBU0n2br-5mYvGbmfmW2xaAXbSFTnvwhuEbTg_0nolcsOLH5VgA_Siiobhyj21lr7m3TaE-AdXG3AtoqnG59sTGESaN4P_6qqUwnyAKI3gbT8wfmUry4im6b_GoiwH99sh/s640/PIRATEBAY.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Proof that we made it in this industry</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
My decision was not without consequence. I had effectively shelved PS4 development while finalizing the game for PC, only having completed the simple demo nearly a year ago. While I had some work done, it was time to start looking at PS4.<br />
<br />
<h4>
The nitty gritty - PS4 development</h4>
<br />
My experience porting the demo was just about the best thing I could have done for prepping the game for PS4. I went into the port having absolutely no idea what I was doing. Things I quickly learned:<br />
<ul>
<li>This thing is not a PC, but it kinda is</li>
<li>Performance is...weird</li>
<li>No, you can't just press the "Make PS4" button</li>
<li>Holy crap this is cool working with what usually is seen as a mysterious black box</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcsR3MeSWIPl8zYSyb1dNnNEe8ljLagI9eITaK4GB4li738nr63_2m8A3rEAsH2bxaZy0qcKGvxUQEXypJTI5IbdoSXQ0CBW2oNH86S64JldzlWq_QhMB3ofauM2fDdCr25-OWI3LXnjY/s1600/XING+The+Land+Beyond+-+Agnirok+-+Lave+Cave.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1600" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcsR3MeSWIPl8zYSyb1dNnNEe8ljLagI9eITaK4GB4li738nr63_2m8A3rEAsH2bxaZy0qcKGvxUQEXypJTI5IbdoSXQ0CBW2oNH86S64JldzlWq_QhMB3ofauM2fDdCr25-OWI3LXnjY/s640/XING+The+Land+Beyond+-+Agnirok+-+Lave+Cave.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from our PS4 Exclusive Volcano level "Agnirok"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h4>
To low-level, or not to low-level...</h4>
<div>
<br />
One thing sticks out to me about my experience with PS4 development so far. I'm working with a million-plus lines of code Unreal Engine, and an equally complex PS4 SDK. Literally millions of man-hours have been put into the construction of both of these systems, all done by seasoned veterans of programming. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's a story. In 2016, I went to GDC. My PS4 rep mentioned that Sony was doing technical evaluations of PSVR games and recommended I get XING submitted. I made a small build of XING to get evaluated and brought it into the engineers at the Sony booth. There were two guys from Sony there, and one from Epic. I fired up the game on their test kit, and they linked in a PS4 profiling tool. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkQMbVflR-h0waU8QJpjpLmwzSFC0aQxMU0zTbzPRGDCJfiTihaVSlQmgwmxqanW-JwdksNYwSmDaDIyu-9aP50ElF6bqUW9lzlTYluqKl56cxWreBlbCi5MzkuV4DA_Sa7d0buLXuX8O/s1600/GPUTrace.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSkQMbVflR-h0waU8QJpjpLmwzSFC0aQxMU0zTbzPRGDCJfiTihaVSlQmgwmxqanW-JwdksNYwSmDaDIyu-9aP50ElF6bqUW9lzlTYluqKl56cxWreBlbCi5MzkuV4DA_Sa7d0buLXuX8O/s400/GPUTrace.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was maybe 1/3 of the screen they had up</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
Immediately the one of the Sony engineers starts talking about some of the numbers on the profile we just took. I started furiously writing down everything he was saying. Frame pacing. GPU bubble. GPU Wait Time. Stream processor. Fetch Shaders. Memory Bus Bandwidth. Pretty soon it was just the Epic and Sony employing discussing these topics while I slowly stopped writing.<br />
<br />
Here I was, showing my little game in a big fancy booth at GDC, listening to representatives from massive companies talk about things I had absolutely no idea were relevant. This was literally a game that I had been working on for years at that point and they might as well have been talking about biochemical engineering. I kept expecting them to boil down to "Well because of this you should probably move those trees over there" or "If you reduced the instruction count on your water shader, this scene would be running better", but they never came to those conclusions.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
When I went home, I began researching everything they had said. I opened up the profiling tools myself and started studying graphics programming. I probably spent a week reading up exactly how a PS4 renders a scene, not really getting anywhere.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="giphy-embed" frameborder="0" height="378" src="https://giphy.com/embed/rWToFtd9cngFG" width="480"></iframe><br />
<a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/community-mr-gizedcom-rWToFtd9cngFG"></a><br /></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I suddenly realized something. </span><br />
<br />
These guys were never going to tell <i>me</i> how to make my scene run faster, because that's not what they do. They are engineers at AAA companies - they are going to take what the artist/designer gives them and MAKE it work. They were looking at my game and talking about how to render exactly what I showed them faster from an <i>engine</i> perspective. I realized as an indie developer, I don't have that luxury. I, for better or for worse, am at the mercy of other companies figuring out the low-level issues, because simply my time is better spent on the high-level work.<br />
<br /></div>
<h4>
Why this is taking so damn long?</h4>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">1. I'm the only one working on getting XING to run on PS4.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><br />
<br />
Remember when I said we would lose out financially if we didn't release simultaneously in 2016? Turns out you need money to hire people to do work for you. Well, I've got the time and the hardware, so lets get to work.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">2. Testing on the devkit is slow. </span><br />
<br />
When I'm working on fixing bugs for PC, it's typically a really fast iteration time. I can in-editor attempt a fix, then test it right away to see if things are good. Even for issues pertaining to the difference between a cooked build and the editor, the build is fast and typically testable with a standalone uncooked build.<br />
<br />
On PS4, the differences are far more extreme. Also, not only do the builds take longer to make, I have to actually push them to the devkit, install them, turn on my TV, test them, attach them to the VS debugger, then finally start diagnosing the problem.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="height: 0; padding-bottom: 61%; position: relative; width: 100%;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="giphy-embed" frameborder="0" height="100%" src="https://giphy.com/embed/1Knn7qHy0sTza" style="position: absolute;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/just-kidding-1Knn7qHy0sTza"></a><br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">3. Supporting: PS4, PS4 + PS VR, PS4 Pro, PS4 Pro + PSVR</span><br />
<br />
Sony is now mandating that all PS4 games come out with PS4 PRO support. In retrospect this is super cool and was relatively easy to get working because XING already supported a huge variety of graphics options in the PC version, but I still had to get a new devkit to work with, and spend time tweaking the graphics options and coding in some switches to get the game to know which kit it was running on. Not only that, but since I'm supporting PS VR I had to come up with settings for VR on base PS4 and PRO, further complicating things.</div>
<div>
<br />
I had to create separate assets for all the button prompts in the game, including support for the Move controllers. The menu system also had to be rearranged quite a bit to make sense for PlayStation. Fortunately I had already implemented gamepad support, so there were not any drastic changes necessary.<br />
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiepmxWNWt-kuWmeb0xOcIVr2SB7fblz_-ORhJg-A3HQP2qbqkEE3yqH9N3_q3gXj71t42nbDu6e5YVsGt3s3naIGWaA2BLhRtBr6hKnE0QlfRVcvm0zBgAfptoPm1nrFrc3obNZlCrR5tn/s1600/XINGPS4NEO-20171114-0001.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiepmxWNWt-kuWmeb0xOcIVr2SB7fblz_-ORhJg-A3HQP2qbqkEE3yqH9N3_q3gXj71t42nbDu6e5YVsGt3s3naIGWaA2BLhRtBr6hKnE0QlfRVcvm0zBgAfptoPm1nrFrc3obNZlCrR5tn/s400/XINGPS4NEO-20171114-0001.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's not motion blur? -_- wut.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">4. Little weird inexplicable bugs during gameplay.</span><br />
<br />
It is actually incredible how identically everything works between PC and PS4 when using Unreal. However, little itty bitty differences can cause cascading problems. Timers sometimes don't quite work the same way. Audio is handed on a hardware level rather than software, resulting in weird timing and volume levels. Shaders get corrupted or simply look different, or shader level features are missing. The save system is synchronous by default on PS4, for some reason. Things are threaded weirdly. Ram allocation is bizarre. I need to address all of this while keeping complete compatibility with the shipped game on Steam and Oculus Home.</div>
<div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">5. Optimization.</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><br />
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Sony is very particular with exactly how well the game runs on PSVR, and I had a big challenge in pushing this graphically intense game on the system. The latest update on PC lists out many of the changes I made to get the game running better specifically on the PS4. This has been taking the majority of the time to get right, and will be one of the things that will be looked at the closest during certification<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbwNycvKrv5bcI-NE3v2nwCCtgl8x3qjKdRHnT16wPfeF_pQpbMjbV6doWpK6MXSujvv4wFZmPI84rWhwPW_hnwP6m1zg1WlywP8L9OW1mkNKs7U_YhMrJKzuEOxzFE0NIJGdoyW68UGw0/s1600/XINGPS4NEO-20171116-0002.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbwNycvKrv5bcI-NE3v2nwCCtgl8x3qjKdRHnT16wPfeF_pQpbMjbV6doWpK6MXSujvv4wFZmPI84rWhwPW_hnwP6m1zg1WlywP8L9OW1mkNKs7U_YhMrJKzuEOxzFE0NIJGdoyW68UGw0/s640/XINGPS4NEO-20171116-0002.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have no idea what I'm doing.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">6. Did I mention certification? </span><br />
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Yeah, we have to go through that as well. Without going into specifics there are two certs we have to pass, each with comprehensive tests of performance, comfort, usability and technical stability. This stuff is ultimately <b>great for the end-user, but absolutely delays shipping</b>. We have yet to submit, though in all likelihood I'll be ready to by the end of this month. I'm being ultra critical about every system in the game as well as extra focused on making sure we maintain frame-rate throughout the game on every configuration and every level.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">~End Thoughts~</span></div>
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I'm going CRAZY over here! Writing all this down is very cathartic - it's easy to lose sight of things while staring at a compiler and not feeling like you are getting much done. I know some of you are eagerly awaiting to play this game, and that really does keep me going. Like we mentioned in our previous post, PS4 is likely our last best home for the future.<br />
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Thanks for reading! Here's a pretty shot from the game for those who made it to the end:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/AngryAllBlackpanther" style="left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
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<br />John Torkingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03609692272081423986noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-21279369542576923672018-02-21T16:48:00.000-08:002018-02-21T16:48:17.653-08:00You've been waiting - February XING Update on Steam and Oculus Home!<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">John here. Wowzers! You’ve been waiting, and now it’s here. It’s a XING update, and a big one to boot! We got a LOT of new updates coming out. Updates like these are the reason XING is the <i>coolest</i> cinematic gaming experience there is.<b> You don’t know the half of it</b>, that is, you won’t until you read the </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://steamcommunity.com/games/XingTheLandBeyond/announcements/detail/1661137104724360599">wonderful patch notes we made for you.</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>TL;DR</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; white-space: pre-wrap;">VR comfort features (and sprinting!), cleaner interactions with motion controllers, CPU and GPU optimizations, and a whole lot of bug fixes.</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="500" scrolling="no" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/WatchfulAshamedHerald" width="500"></iframe>
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Thanks everyone for reporting and patiently waiting for many of these bugs - this community may still be small but you all have big hearts : D. This is actually our 8th update since launch - you can look back on the Steam page to read the previous patches (the updates were applied to Oculus Home too!) Also, if you've played the game, please make sure to leave us a review on <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/299400/XING_The_Land_Beyond/">Steam</a> or <a href="https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1012092142167066/">Oculus</a>!<br />
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Kori and I are amidst discussion about what lies in store for the future but I can safely tease that some <b>new content is on the way. </b></div>
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I’ll also be on the lookout for the classic fix-10-bugs-create-18-more issue, and will be ready to make a hotfix, should the unfortunate occur.</div>
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Cheers!</div>
John Torkingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03609692272081423986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-4880154047246484752018-01-24T13:09:00.001-08:002018-01-24T13:09:39.499-08:00The Last Few Months: A Short Post-Mortem and New AnnouncementHi everyone!<br />
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It's been a while since we posted here (now we are mainly using Twitter and Facebook for updates), but I thought I'd check in and write a bit about what we've been up to since our launch on PC.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Things we've done these last few months:</span></b><br />
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<ul>
<li>Sent out Kickstarter Backer Rewards</li>
<li>Presented and demoed at the Intel Developer Showcase, where XING won best overall game!</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We received an Intel Nuc for winning "Best Overall Game"</td></tr>
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<ul>
<li>Ran a booth at the PlayStation Experience</li>
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<li>We debuted the PlayStation Exclusive Volcano level on the show floor, and managed a PSVR demo as well</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9CviO_fVNwlIRi0uBd4WYjpUKBoQOUeucXR4lZyTHew18kwbxT_H6lS_CBOk-R-x3pNEUGCnBxz8YOzICOeYthgcyMoYXuGZ2bahbea4FTlJ4kauMnB2gtYM0H-TIyw0Ht3jDsUiUcXw/s1600/XING+The+Land+Beyond+-+Agnirok+-+Face.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="908" data-original-width="1600" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9CviO_fVNwlIRi0uBd4WYjpUKBoQOUeucXR4lZyTHew18kwbxT_H6lS_CBOk-R-x3pNEUGCnBxz8YOzICOeYthgcyMoYXuGZ2bahbea4FTlJ4kauMnB2gtYM0H-TIyw0Ht3jDsUiUcXw/s640/XING+The+Land+Beyond+-+Agnirok+-+Face.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PlayStation Experience Booth. Pictured: Koriel Kruer (developer)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">PlayStation Experience Booth. Pictured left to right: John Torkington (developer) and Jonathan Van Arsdall (friend)</td></tr>
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<ul>
<li>Pushed over 10 updates on Steam for bug fixes and other things our community asked for, including adding a "jump assist" feature</li>
<li>Put the game up for sale during the winter Steam and Oculus sales</li>
<li>Received numerous messages over Facebook and emails from fans, thanking us for making a game that really touched them (these have been my favorite to read)</li>
<li>And mostly just worked on getting things set up for launching on the PlayStation 4 and PS VR later this year.</li>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">With all that, unfortunately the future of the company is still a grey area at best.</span> </b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Reality of Where We Are</b></span><br />
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To be honest, our sales haven't been great, despite the praise we've received from most of the people who have played. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Very Positive" :)</td></tr>
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This is due to several reasons, including the overly saturated Steam market (once upon a time launching a game on Steam really meant something, but that is no longer the case for small developers like us), and the fact that most of the buzz about the game happened over 2 years ago, and died down quite a bit before we launched. Only Oculus has continued to promote us on their platform, and we are extremely grateful for that. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front page of the Oculus Store</td></tr>
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<div>
There were other options open to us too, like seeking outside help or saying "yes" to one of the deals we were offered during development. We also never hired a marketing team, though those are often a coin toss anyway. In hindsight, there's definitely more we could have done to spread the news of the game launching last year on PC. Hopefully now that we (finally) took a much needed break this winter over the holidays, we can get back on that horse and start promoting again.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Is this game VR Only? No. No it is not. </b></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Another thing that still concerns us about the game and it's reach, is that many people don't realize that it's <b>not a VR-only title<span style="font-size: large;">.</span></b> Those who do know that, and have played without VR headsets, have told us how great the experience was playing on their monitor or TV. We know we have a great game here that many people would surely enjoy, but the question unfortunately becomes: how can people like something they've never heard of? They can't. To add to the problem, many who have heard of us assume they can't play because they don't have a VR headset, since there are so many more VR-Only games out there than cross platform VR/Non-VR like ours. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We also don't have a wide reach. Almost none of the publications we reached out to and sent preview builds wrote about us during launch week, and many of the ones that did were VR-centric, which is still a very narrow audience. The reality is that we are just too small, and don't have the connections that can help get articles written.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Downsized</b></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Also, in the interest of being transparent, our company has downsized to just 2 members now, instead of the original 3. James left working at the company around the middle of last year to pursue other passions, and game projects of his own, and we wish him all the best. This leaves just John and I to get the game ready for PlayStation and PS VR, with John now doing all the optimizations and me working with Sony reps and on content updates. And yes, we are still living in our parents' houses on a shoestring budget, and the company is currently in debt. Despite this, we continue to work on the game every week, hoping to get the PlayStation version out as soon as we possibly can.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">PlayStation Launch Hopes</span></b><br />
<br />
If it seems like we are depending on the PlayStation launch to be successful, it's because we are. "Successful" to us = not in debt + can move out. Sony has a much larger reach than anyone else we've worked with, and their PS VR customers are hungry for more quality VR content. They announced this year that they've sold over 2 million PS VR units, which is more than double the combined sales of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive combined (mostly due to promotion and pricing), and this gives us hope. We want people on the PlayStation platform to enjoy the game both in and out of virtual reality, and to tell their friends about the game. With luck, that will help PC sales too.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie71qZDu_H1WpsBgufSNycNN3mu_98PPH9uvcNAFulUlNp00Q1-FiSbx9ae0ljxodknQbCDI6xQqTUumLX6BeXbqM3v6s6Wrg0hKRClvd92AkEAmJIYIjVZZKq2iHPEmWRHUlsZwN-I5I/s1600/16x20+Foam+Board+PSVR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie71qZDu_H1WpsBgufSNycNN3mu_98PPH9uvcNAFulUlNp00Q1-FiSbx9ae0ljxodknQbCDI6xQqTUumLX6BeXbqM3v6s6Wrg0hKRClvd92AkEAmJIYIjVZZKq2iHPEmWRHUlsZwN-I5I/s400/16x20+Foam+Board+PSVR.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>PC Update</b></span><br />
<br />
Speaking of PC fans, though you are small in number, we appreciate you and want you to know that we have been working on a content update you will get later this year! :) You think PlayStation is the only platform that gets a new level? Think again. We've been working on a short level, inspired by our Kickstarter stretch goals, that takes place in a frozen icescape. It's short and sweet, and we hope fans will enjoy the new addition to the game, and story of the young boy named Toklo.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju22Y_SV_dZfnd2XTJpdF6D-t1leFN8fYwp3gO_hFz3M2m77RSYcRtS-LX5SS98GjcKz3Xz9pWW_lVdQE1J_8cXJKHGzJVUDMPeS_CHg1TqecnEntBCXwtRSUiaxdIxtq-q6wNFFxbswE/s1600/2018-01-23+%25282%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju22Y_SV_dZfnd2XTJpdF6D-t1leFN8fYwp3gO_hFz3M2m77RSYcRtS-LX5SS98GjcKz3Xz9pWW_lVdQE1J_8cXJKHGzJVUDMPeS_CHg1TqecnEntBCXwtRSUiaxdIxtq-q6wNFFxbswE/s640/2018-01-23+%25282%2529.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnSvFtd-Eqb6JKLik9mOboN-MOz60MQgqJBpSqn6iPcpEaskXtleY_UF3Dr-s4-rblbyR-IEMaziWssCiN87QMGVufgMaWrh0GbZWILGemjHCpO5nczOPoontzqCF9U20lzqpx0YoIkA/s1600/2018-01-23.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZnSvFtd-Eqb6JKLik9mOboN-MOz60MQgqJBpSqn6iPcpEaskXtleY_UF3Dr-s4-rblbyR-IEMaziWssCiN87QMGVufgMaWrh0GbZWILGemjHCpO5nczOPoontzqCF9U20lzqpx0YoIkA/s640/2018-01-23.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This new level will be included in the PlayStation Launch as well!<br />
<br />
We will give more updates in the future, as we ramp up to launching on PlayStation. Hopefully they will all be good updates. Fingers crossed!<br />
<br />
Thanks to all who read our dev blog updates. If you want to find out more about the game, visit our website at <a href="http://www.xingthegame.com/">www.xingthegame.com</a>, or follow us on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/xingthegame">Facebook </a>or <a href="https://twitter.com/xingthegame">Twitter</a>. We hope 2018 will be a great year for us all.<br />
<br />
- Koriel<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-3224658941540849132017-09-21T14:12:00.000-07:002017-09-21T14:12:19.640-07:00WE HAVE LIFTOFF - XING: The Land Beyond releases on Steam and Oculus Store!The rumors are true! We have launched on Steam and the Oculus Store!
Here are some links:<br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="190" src="https://store.steampowered.com/widget/299400/" width="646"></iframe>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://ocul.us/2xl56NE">Oculus Store Link</a> </span></b><br />
<br />
And check out the soundtrack on Bandcamp!<br />
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2829826325/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=0f91ff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://johntorkington.bandcamp.com/album/xing-the-land-beyond-ost">XING: The Land Beyond OST by John Torkington</a></iframe>
<br />
We'll probably make a bigger post after things die down around here, as well as continuing our timeline posts!
<b>Thanks again everyone!</b>John Torkingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03609692272081423986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-6429461128977815032017-09-18T15:13:00.000-07:002017-09-18T22:28:54.948-07:00My Unconventional Path to Becoming an Indie Game Developer [PART 1]<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
♩♪♬<br />
Now this is the story all about how</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
My life got flipped, turned upside down</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So I'd like to take you back to 2012 Spring,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And tell you all about the making of a game I call XING<br />
♫♪♬</div>
<br />
<br />
Seriously though, there are a TON of weird, behind the scenes <b><span style="color: red;">Fun Facts</span></b> that nobody knows about our story, so I hope those of you who decide to read through it will laugh, sigh, and appreciate all the ridiculous details of the journey.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjBTIOLpX5NEivuy0nzaJHzeJ8be6c2NA6WgXznKpEU8AqomGRS_y-hvhmZ9DY8IkDUlxJ5YGp_yGcRRgrAVAFeie-a5GTwlsjmytHtnnnUZG7x87DRMqzxZTzCiNqa_6PT13U53CbdDc/s1600/Koriel+Working+Close+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjBTIOLpX5NEivuy0nzaJHzeJ8be6c2NA6WgXznKpEU8AqomGRS_y-hvhmZ9DY8IkDUlxJ5YGp_yGcRRgrAVAFeie-a5GTwlsjmytHtnnnUZG7x87DRMqzxZTzCiNqa_6PT13U53CbdDc/s400/Koriel+Working+Close+2015.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<h3>
For Media People:</h3>
<div>
If you're a member of the press, I also came up with a few suuuuper classy click-bait phrases, in case you need some inspiration for a title for an article on us (please write about us, k thnx). If nothing else, I hope these make you laugh :D</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"3 Game Developers Want to Send You to the Afterlife"</div>
<div>
"The Afterlife Magically Discovered by 3 Game Developers, and it Looks Gorgeous" </div>
<div>
"In XING, You are Dead. Indie Team Promises That it Will at Least be Beautiful"</div>
<div>
"I Traveled to the Afterlife and it was Puzzling"<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzd6GnDG3j8RPfsAq13lLOFRdp9lmenuZSXJVigy504W1hm62TLkDSzE80nOs19ATAYZIGnGIQYe_6hlFhOXcPo3HOn4BSMhN_IDSPP1mdcZAKWoBobM_HRWfQLpasZ44FEkrLguuqgk/s1600/01+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Lost+In+The+Jungle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzd6GnDG3j8RPfsAq13lLOFRdp9lmenuZSXJVigy504W1hm62TLkDSzE80nOs19ATAYZIGnGIQYe_6hlFhOXcPo3HOn4BSMhN_IDSPP1mdcZAKWoBobM_HRWfQLpasZ44FEkrLguuqgk/s640/01+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Lost+In+The+Jungle.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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</div>
<br />
<br /></div>
_____________________________________________________________________________<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">~PART 1~</span></b></div>
<h4>
The Very Beginning</h4>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">February of 2012</span></b></h3>
John and I both get assigned homework for a Level Design 1 that class we are in together, which is to make a level. The theme that week, I believe, was "atmosphere".<br />
<br />
<div>
After working on our own separate levels for a day or 2, we combine the maps we've made so far (unbeknownst to our professor), and work together to combine our skills to make a better, single level. We work into the wee hours of the morning to get it to him on time...though it ends up being 8 hours late at 8am. We explain we combined our homework and apologize.</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">That was the birth of XING</span><br />
<ul><ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
A week later our professor announces that there is in intercollegiate IEEE competition for making a game that will take place in 2 months, and any of his students who make it into the top 10 will get an "A" in the class. Hello new goal.<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">March-April of 2012</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
John and I learn the Unreal 3 editor using UDK (Unreal Development Kit), and over the next 2 months (lots of late nights and terrible snack choices) we come out with an early prototype of a game, which we just call "XING".</div>
<div>
At that point, the game play was literally: See a button, go to the button, press the button, and voila! This unveils a new path to the next button. Repeat. I actually recently just found this build again.<br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Fun Fact:</span></b> This game is made up almost entirely of re-purposed assets that just came with UDK. We didn't know how to make models or materials or anything like that, so we worked with what we had. </blockquote>
<ul><ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheD9eo0IWoNtN3BOgHHJ8jFBj1Wq8p1Aw-htfQwj3yKazPotqW0ejSO1Bz2GOnxV974DfLG0qENhsppGzZwK5UPhpq8tno8mxk5AMgtmnaiZItsuvJ5O2WdaFqc84V2wSLy6_PbtoSBgI/s1600/404391_115627951953062_685351304_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="800" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheD9eo0IWoNtN3BOgHHJ8jFBj1Wq8p1Aw-htfQwj3yKazPotqW0ejSO1Bz2GOnxV974DfLG0qENhsppGzZwK5UPhpq8tno8mxk5AMgtmnaiZItsuvJ5O2WdaFqc84V2wSLy6_PbtoSBgI/s400/404391_115627951953062_685351304_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John and I presenting the game. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We enter it into the competition and win 2nd place. Cool! Then one of the judges recommends that we take it further and actually run a Kickstarter for it. At this point, the game has a completely different story/context than the one you will play in a few days. You can check out the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW4rNJxCkXs">SUPER old trailer</a> here for giggles.<br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Fun Fact:</span></b> It wasn't until after we won 2nd place that the judges found out that we hadn't made all of our in-game assets ourselves. Whoops. </blockquote>
<ul><ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zW4rNJxCkXs?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
~Also, this video upload got a decent amount of press without us even doing anything, like this<a href="https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/06/22/xing-may-be-more-than-myst-opportunities/"> article from RPS</a>, so we thought that, in the future, press would be easy to reach to have people report on our little game. Haha. So cute.~<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">May 2012 - February 2013</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
John and I work all summer on what we think will be "the game". When school starts again in the fall (yay we are Seniors now), we end up asking James, who is a Sophomore, to join the team.</div>
<div>
<span style="color: red;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;"><b>Fun Fact:</b></span> This new version of the game we start around October of 2013 is not the same premise, story line or maps as the original "XING" that we created for that competition. </blockquote>
We decided that the reason you don't have a body is not because we can't animate, but because you are dead. Yep. That was our solution, due to our lack of skills. Because of this, we end up writing a completely NEW story about the afterlife. It ends up being a lot better than the original, which was about crash-landing your spaceship on a mysterious puzzle-world (ok that sounds cool, but we didn't have much depth past that sentence. Seriously.)<br />
<ul><ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
Together we all work in John's little apartment, and build one new level that we think will be a hub world. We also start the process of running a Kickstarter.<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h4>
March 2013: A New Beginning with Kickstarter</h4>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Before the Kickstarter</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
We are still in school, but essentially work on XING and the Kickstarter in all of our spare time. Somewhere in this time a friend suggests that the title "XING" isn't very descriptive, so we add "The Land Beyond". We like it.<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">The Kickstarter Trailer</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
John makes the music. James literally builds levels that don't exist, but that we want to exist later, so we add them in for visual variety. I film and edit the trailer. Some smoke and mirrors, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6uD25-vWYM">BAM</a>:<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d6uD25-vWYM?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
We are very proud.<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Running the Kickstarter</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
Anyone who has run a Kickstarter campaign will tell you that it is its own job. That becomes my new job. I make all the graphics (wow I've come a long way, some of those look terrible to me now, haha), answer the emails, reply in the comments, and add the updates. This is A LOT OF WORK. The whole thing is a fun and tiring learning process.</div>
<div>
During the last week of the Kickstarter, the 3 of us attend GDC to meet with other developers and promote our game a little. This is when we end up forging our relationship with Epic Games (the company that creates the Unreal Engine). We end up loving pretty much everyone we meet from the company, and all is good. <b><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Fun Fact: </span></b>That great relationship probably wouldn't have happened (or at least not happened as quickly) if I wasn't given a free pass to Epic's party one night by an acquaintance. Funny how things sometimes work out.</blockquote>
<ul><ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYetJfFmNXaPO3dBYEsKI7N_mq2SjQA2TGG694QgHxJkoUjPbToUUy_HmYZ-1LSpweKvxnn4RT7bWN90jYq-iBY-fkno9bD-ZoUZsDFib04cUodJmJ3WxAc2vczGJbhPh_O0T0eGvtqXE/s1600/Kickstarter+look.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="692" data-original-width="1006" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYetJfFmNXaPO3dBYEsKI7N_mq2SjQA2TGG694QgHxJkoUjPbToUUy_HmYZ-1LSpweKvxnn4RT7bWN90jYq-iBY-fkno9bD-ZoUZsDFib04cUodJmJ3WxAc2vczGJbhPh_O0T0eGvtqXE/s320/Kickstarter+look.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haha, $15k. So naive. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">We're Legit now right?</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
Hey mom and dad, look we made some money ($30k) on Kickstater so now we are legitimate. Cool right? Now it's time to make that game we promised.</div>
<div>
We give an initial estimate of launching the game in September of 2013. This is clearly due to lack of experience, or understanding of what it takes to make a game like we envisioned...and with only 3 (underskilled but highly motivated) people.<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h4>
The Rest of 2013</h4>
<div>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Time to Make a Company!</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
So, apparently this is pretty normal, but we end up forming the company "for real" AFTER the Kickstarter (i.e. sending in all the paperwork to the government etc.). Our thought was that it wouldn't be worth it to form the company if we didn't know if we would have a product.<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Trying out Virtual Reality</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
We promised Virtual Reality after the stretch goal was made on our Kickstarter Campaign, and pre-order an Oculus Rift DK1. Unfortunately it would be months before that one could come in.</div>
<div>
Luckily, after an announcement to the community, a friendly backer actually ships his to us, and takes our pre-order, so that we can get the headset earlier to start developing for. This is the day we hooked up the DK1 for the first time and play XING:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U0OWQMrGTeg?rel=0" width="560"></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
Even on a DK1, with its low framerate and low resolution, and not even the idea of motion controllers in our heads, we are clearly in love.<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Becoming a "Digital" Company</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
After the summer of 2013, John and I go back to live at our parents' houses, and James goes back to school. We still need to maintain the schedule we had been keeping over the summer (about 8-12 hrs a day, 5-6 days per week), so we set up a server on John's crappy old laptop, and create a schedule to meet on Google Hangouts every morning.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Fun Fact:</span></b> In the beginning, we met at 9 am every morning on Google Hangouts to start the working day, and kept the video chat on all day long (until around 10 pm). Over the years, that 9 am call time slowly but surely crept forward to 10 am...then 11 am. Most recently we've been meeting at 12 pm every day, because we've been staying up so late every night trying to get things ready for launch! ><</blockquote>
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<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Steam Greenlight</span></b></h3>
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This was a new thing. We make it. It is exciting. This system gets replaced about a year later.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsw6yiZ37Jy0xTpxci3AeN5c1ISmxAMMAJbyeAkZC1rlAFbsyOYNGJEDalcQc0tJx1ZoSZlrzM8Ln3QeSNHSBf1mxkDpB9KRVW83PFBzNadkuKnm0DVwIt-nxEPJRzpqBpJPX0NLwWkPc/s1600/Greenlit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="977" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsw6yiZ37Jy0xTpxci3AeN5c1ISmxAMMAJbyeAkZC1rlAFbsyOYNGJEDalcQc0tJx1ZoSZlrzM8Ln3QeSNHSBf1mxkDpB9KRVW83PFBzNadkuKnm0DVwIt-nxEPJRzpqBpJPX0NLwWkPc/s320/Greenlit.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></h4>
<h4>
GDC 2014 and Yet Another New Beginning</h4>
<h3>
<span style="color: #a2c4c9;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-size: large;">Showcasing the Game GDC Play</span></b></span></h3>
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So GDC, the Game Developer's Conference, is something we went to the year previously. This year, we decide to show off the game. We find that it is pretty expensive just to get a 6'x8' booth space, but the experience we gain while doing it helped make us contacts, and prepare us for future shows. Here are some posts I wrote<b> <a href="https://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2014/03/gdc-is-one-week-away-and-we-have-one.html">before</a> </b>and<b> <a href="https://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2014/03/gdc-booth-success.html">after</a> </b>about the whole experience. Lots of pics.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhouDhuwK4FSK3s7GElRZyqoa4R47p8NHOqdKXtOr2LD8yrQwrdUq7zN28W7CRBi8HBftP7OcwRWFznWHkAmYo-dS2W7Fo8u6iHr8OeEmS2aMDAEwvpw-9oCg_B77g4ak2EYppKFEe6lQw/s1600/IMG_7452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="1600" height="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhouDhuwK4FSK3s7GElRZyqoa4R47p8NHOqdKXtOr2LD8yrQwrdUq7zN28W7CRBi8HBftP7OcwRWFznWHkAmYo-dS2W7Fo8u6iHr8OeEmS2aMDAEwvpw-9oCg_B77g4ak2EYppKFEe6lQw/s640/IMG_7452.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
After making that in-depth post about running a booth at GDC play, it became a new tradition to document every show like that afterwards - so you'll see a lot of behind-the-scenes links later on about PAX West. They're cool.<br />
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<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Early VR Fun Times</span></b></h3>
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Did I mention we made this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx_6D22jWEw">Roller Coaster in VR</a>? Hahahaha. Yeah, this is not in the game anymore. <br />
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<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">The Switch to Unreal 4</span></b></h3>
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After GDC, where the announcement that the new Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) was going to be just $20 a month, we decide to make the switch. We made a <a href="https://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2014/04/we-made-switch-to-unreal-engine-4.html">whole blog post</a> about this at the time, with lots of "before and afters". Let's just say it was both necessary, and worth it. This switch ends up costing us A LOT OF TIME...though because of it, we are able to make a much more modern and beautiful game.<br />
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<h4>
Summer and Fall of 2014: Work Work Work + Conventions Galore</h4>
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<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Our First E3: Showcasing with IndieCade</span></b></h3>
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<div>
IndieCade invites us to showcase the game at E3, and we have about a month to get a build ready. Oh boy.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Fun Fact:</span></b> We end up having to buy 780Ti graphics card the day before the show (thanks Mom and Dad) to get my computer up to spec to be allowed to show the game on the HD Oculus (this was the version in between the DK1 and DK2).</blockquote>
The actual show is awesome, and it is our first time attending. <a href="https://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2014/06/e3-wrap-up-exciting-previews-and.html">Here's the corresponding blog post for that.</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXd-o7zNV6bgsAiU5lELGZrLqGm761X0vLgL8OrGWScm5OlG-gPBT8V-zF3M3ttouVDMn9PNc6cVaxjh2R9GMc097R6ad4n4lXdsVyBbHhFroMHay6FET0TFEU-_JAn-QGKt0tAJaRf0/s1600/IMG_5846.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1405" data-original-width="1600" height="562" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXd-o7zNV6bgsAiU5lELGZrLqGm761X0vLgL8OrGWScm5OlG-gPBT8V-zF3M3ttouVDMn9PNc6cVaxjh2R9GMc097R6ad4n4lXdsVyBbHhFroMHay6FET0TFEU-_JAn-QGKt0tAJaRf0/s640/IMG_5846.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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During the show we are asked if we want to be featured on a GameSpot interview. Yes. The answer is yes.<br />
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<b><b><br /></b></b></div>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">
Oculus Share Demo</span></b></h3>
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<div>
After E3, we also release a demo of the game on the Oculus Share site (before it was replaced by the Oculus Store). Making all these builds is a lot of extra work, but seems necessary for showing that you have, you know, an actual, working game ><<br />
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</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Long work weeks. The usual. </span></b></h3>
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<div>
The rest of the summer is mainly continuing our 50-60 hour per week schedule of working on the game. In-between all of that, I'm prepping for our first PAX Prime show.<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Our first PAX Prime: Wow.</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
I made a <a href="https://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-giant-pax-post-real-in-depth-look.html">HUGE post about this experience.</a></div>
<div>
We tried to be as frugal as we could, and I even listed out our expenses in the big post that I made. We try to be as transparent as we can.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Fun Fact:</span></b> We had to rebuild the game every morning on the show floor to fix bugs we noticed from the day before. Every. Morning. Talk about stressful!</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nZHXEreKMIjo139yVpvFpIlRSxL0jyWdPd5sf64t4itraJqsEYnYhDATXjcR33d7t_SLY8JX1zj4Eugf8PnlilTNCQtzX9YTYrvqAhWrQRYms0d1yFQ9SqCTU7NOrAWXulgc0kAHtUM/s1600/IMG_1154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nZHXEreKMIjo139yVpvFpIlRSxL0jyWdPd5sf64t4itraJqsEYnYhDATXjcR33d7t_SLY8JX1zj4Eugf8PnlilTNCQtzX9YTYrvqAhWrQRYms0d1yFQ9SqCTU7NOrAWXulgc0kAHtUM/s640/IMG_1154.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Also, after having experienced 2 shows, talking to people about the game at booths all day long, I come up with the idea of printing and laminating info pamphlets to hand out to people who crowd around the booth. I believe it will save my voice, and also help people come up with questions that aren't the same 5-6 that everyone asks. It works. I feel like a genius.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihh__vF_RtfvaC2wAlMedt3XpL-UTMT_lqib6CZet_cFei8V5Jh8162ZpFe3C1kdp-UAXAQuLIaL5AcNmsHX3KtUDWvXor1ufjas7xvrAj8iemPrcI1dSnwP44ikZksY6yEuEAmgIp8f4/s1600/IMG_1398.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="997" data-original-width="1600" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihh__vF_RtfvaC2wAlMedt3XpL-UTMT_lqib6CZet_cFei8V5Jh8162ZpFe3C1kdp-UAXAQuLIaL5AcNmsHX3KtUDWvXor1ufjas7xvrAj8iemPrcI1dSnwP44ikZksY6yEuEAmgIp8f4/s320/IMG_1398.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Oculus Connect 1</span></b></h3>
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<div>
After that busy summer, you'd think we'd just relax and focus solely on development, right? Well, since we are always working, our little trips to conferences end up becoming like mini work-vacations. Basically it gets us away from our computers for a short time, but we are still working for the game - making contacts, spreading the word, learning about technologies to come (and what we will eventually have to support), and more. It's actually all quite exhausting. James and I <a href="https://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-first-oculus-connect.html">attend the first Oculus Connect</a>, and it becomes yet another great learning experience.<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXjraSFApEaLj31nhU2Vrp2ggyxCXW3Kjy9dv_BL3MX5gEqDzDoUOb9cptULKkLigQAxMbx6t1dNFs4crh7JBpFTaLmWCYTmBVukNQzmrqmtnQDMjx3nb3A7wfWy4kplURgrdB3WsvKY/s1600/IMG_7412.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXjraSFApEaLj31nhU2Vrp2ggyxCXW3Kjy9dv_BL3MX5gEqDzDoUOb9cptULKkLigQAxMbx6t1dNFs4crh7JBpFTaLmWCYTmBVukNQzmrqmtnQDMjx3nb3A7wfWy4kplURgrdB3WsvKY/s320/IMG_7412.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh hey look, it's John Carmack. Didn't he do something important? ;)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
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<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">IndieCade with Epic Games</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
Since I live in LA, I decide it's a good idea to say "yes" when Epic invites us to be part of their booth at IndieCade, which takes place in LA every year. I figure it won't be too much of an extra hassle, and we will just use the build we used to Oculus Connect and PAX. That more or less happens. John joins this time, as James is in school.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: red;"><b>Fun Fact:</b></span> The REAL struggle (besides constantly having to haul all of our own computers and such back and forth from the car every day) was actually getting people to be able to see the game on the monitor we brought. The sun is so bright, and the festival is held outside...so basically, it becomes tough to see anyone's games, unless they are deep under a special shade tent. Pretty funny. Fortunately we also had a Rift that people could play in, and in VR you aren't worrying about the light outside (much). <a href="https://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2014/10/epic-indiecade-experience.html"> Here's the corresponding post</a>. </blockquote>
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</ul>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWHRnHWebZjxABuAlymbku2R6Kr1n8EuWZCA2I1sBR0IdC1WSZE61Ug6qfOa0wh_hFp3jhYjWZByGvXCW8En1gqJrikGyR5JNyK7vhBSXCOQMl1QFLeR2CBbP6Ts14U9KcJFOe7VJvTY/s1600/IMG_2905.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlWHRnHWebZjxABuAlymbku2R6Kr1n8EuWZCA2I1sBR0IdC1WSZE61Ug6qfOa0wh_hFp3jhYjWZByGvXCW8En1gqJrikGyR5JNyK7vhBSXCOQMl1QFLeR2CBbP6Ts14U9KcJFOe7VJvTY/s640/IMG_2905.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check out my sweet dragon table that I take to almost every event we show at!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
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<h4>
The Rest of 2014</h4>
<div>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Work Work Work</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
We spend the rest of the year just working on the game, with no extra events to prep for. This feels like a nice breather - at least from events. We think we will be out in 2015. Still so wrong.<br />
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<h4>
Hello 2015! It's a New Year!</h4>
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<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Ok so we are definitely releasing this year, right? </span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
I mean, we need to stop living at our parents' houses and go live. Well, James is still in college, but John and I are feeling it. We end up asking for questions and then posting responses, interview style, to our thoughts on the current development cycle. <a href="https://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2015/02/xing-in-2015-fans-ask-we-answer.html">Super cool interview about our personal lives in relation to XING. We definitely didn't just make up some of these questions ourselves. Definitely not. Nope. </a><br />
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</ul>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NQOxuidlflOfSbZXOJUPkZtHjuXQs5IxO9ETF7x-7G_n8W872NVP9IdL7PELdSjiMO2twJyGrvTyaDV6w85pW8PXAQEY0DgQrdUwpAZGOmm5k5cx9iieu8KYbVfCJuxvCiUsSoluCVs/s1600/TeamMembers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="1465" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8NQOxuidlflOfSbZXOJUPkZtHjuXQs5IxO9ETF7x-7G_n8W872NVP9IdL7PELdSjiMO2twJyGrvTyaDV6w85pW8PXAQEY0DgQrdUwpAZGOmm5k5cx9iieu8KYbVfCJuxvCiUsSoluCVs/s400/TeamMembers.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">Workspace</span></b></h3>
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<div>
Since I'm writing this post, I'm going to post a picture of my work setup around that time, just because I think it's cool. (There are more photos of our rooms in the link above)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPYPzWodHX2QFQlgLyMgdeUz_zPN6jGkbShNa4YgSW_i5i0dD5daOyGGGHSAoDs6zyeQOQ0L9gPerBYwyBY-G5ENmAjUZ1zSfD2tHIyj1v7fogveQHKjdSO_5ZTsfz9ttkd3U2TNkOgA/s1600/Koriel+Working+Space+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXPYPzWodHX2QFQlgLyMgdeUz_zPN6jGkbShNa4YgSW_i5i0dD5daOyGGGHSAoDs6zyeQOQ0L9gPerBYwyBY-G5ENmAjUZ1zSfD2tHIyj1v7fogveQHKjdSO_5ZTsfz9ttkd3U2TNkOgA/s640/Koriel+Working+Space+2015.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome to my world! Can you tell how much I love dragons and fantasy?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br />
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">GDC Round 3</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
The Game Developers Conference seems to be a good event to attend annually, if you want to keep up with industry and continue to make contacts. We definitely want to keep up, so we take this time off every year to do just that. It's an important part of staying relevant and in-the-know. Also, we end up meeting new amazing people every time we attend, and <a href="https://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2015/03/gdc-2015.html">this year is no different. </a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="color: red;">Fun Fact:</span></b> This year we end up meeting with some of the people we had been talking to over email from Cyan (they were in the middle of making <a href="http://obduction.com/">Obduction</a>), and we talk a lot of shop about our mad strats for using the Unreal 4 Engine to the best of our abilities. We bond through our love making beautiful games :) This friendship between our studios has only grown stronger over the years <3</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYi_m-2Ds3MBT-1eMSXoTOaRvzgau1wDGke99Hz4AW0EAR3dozXfBOcFSoOGEm7QnBsBqi42nL94clv-kUbqk4cLQ7i4EQvd-HleUIVWWeutXVt_W_Wp-aXR93aCYMf2lrU3Md6Mj5hoE/s1600/B_SH1V4U0AEjbkg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYi_m-2Ds3MBT-1eMSXoTOaRvzgau1wDGke99Hz4AW0EAR3dozXfBOcFSoOGEm7QnBsBqi42nL94clv-kUbqk4cLQ7i4EQvd-HleUIVWWeutXVt_W_Wp-aXR93aCYMf2lrU3Md6Mj5hoE/s640/B_SH1V4U0AEjbkg.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwg8b_JkYGlsivmNJpDWUxmSJ_c2wfkBYmlALfv1nOtPrtivyLD731PudYd86hjlRtic78cCKWsne-2Zi4NdWvEdgMyb5efzunD5Ac5hYTIxMZgJNz8P3pqQ7Zd_48TBRlWTVEWMqcTdM/s1600/IMG_9698.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1261" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwg8b_JkYGlsivmNJpDWUxmSJ_c2wfkBYmlALfv1nOtPrtivyLD731PudYd86hjlRtic78cCKWsne-2Zi4NdWvEdgMyb5efzunD5Ac5hYTIxMZgJNz8P3pqQ7Zd_48TBRlWTVEWMqcTdM/s400/IMG_9698.jpg" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We always joke about having free advertising everywhere! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Actual free advertising: We are grateful to Epic Games for asking to have our game's art displayed on their GDC booth. Every time we see something like this, it makes us feel like it's more real.<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_UVDZBhI6GdNj6rTQsvuQB3dwmdeLFpP-keT0lGknd8PX4_BINrPz6nog6o0FFr3iVcxW3W1j1OEjfd6kFpUC1wtfPGjGDIwZRNBJDLuIYo44SAKalZnAlRe4f1AdnSXei5OJ9C8KezE/s1600/IMG_9819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1313" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_UVDZBhI6GdNj6rTQsvuQB3dwmdeLFpP-keT0lGknd8PX4_BINrPz6nog6o0FFr3iVcxW3W1j1OEjfd6kFpUC1wtfPGjGDIwZRNBJDLuIYo44SAKalZnAlRe4f1AdnSXei5OJ9C8KezE/s400/IMG_9819.jpg" width="327" /></a></div>
<div>
<br />
Also at this GDC, we hear about the new Steam VR HMD, which is intriguing. I wonder if it will actually be fully developed? Also, if it becomes popular, should we support that too? Hmmm. (Yes, this was the HTC Vive.)<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3>
<b><span style="color: #a2c4c9; font-size: large;">$12,000 FREE from Epic Games</span></b></h3>
</div>
<div>
Epic starts an Unreal Dev Grant program this year, so we apply for it. We don't make it into their first round of awards, so we are a bit bummed, especially because they are using our pictures as the banners for their Dev Grants webpage at the time. :D In fact, the images of us are <a href="https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/unrealdevgrants">still there</a>! In a later round of grants, we hear the news that we've been awarded $12k! Wow. This is seriously amazing, and helps out a ton on our shoestring budget!<br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLmdpcn-mF4saKR4jrzDU35T9hn801RmCkl0PDFi9RvWm6pc9uiEBCX6SuwjG9ndSipb4SEvykp6g_dhWSOPl-U1yF0OXOGJkQn-8mkx_zTZchshYMdxlaoD1qG5s4C34qjFbcIrDJKb0/s1600/EpicGrant.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="1600" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLmdpcn-mF4saKR4jrzDU35T9hn801RmCkl0PDFi9RvWm6pc9uiEBCX6SuwjG9ndSipb4SEvykp6g_dhWSOPl-U1yF0OXOGJkQn-8mkx_zTZchshYMdxlaoD1qG5s4C34qjFbcIrDJKb0/s400/EpicGrant.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's me!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFMJA8vZvAhrRQR8nzRiTDmyqxJoguMVgMIAOLKai6wrllWKUbI-wBpsU3AFpFmzMjI1Kjc_3K75pI_d3TVXtpBj6_ObomBWX0Z2R6kMs1H3psVcjt6uOuxH9syOXv55TMqvAOs5pQ40g/s1600/EpicGrant2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="882" data-original-width="1600" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFMJA8vZvAhrRQR8nzRiTDmyqxJoguMVgMIAOLKai6wrllWKUbI-wBpsU3AFpFmzMjI1Kjc_3K75pI_d3TVXtpBj6_ObomBWX0Z2R6kMs1H3psVcjt6uOuxH9syOXv55TMqvAOs5pQ40g/s400/EpicGrant2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's John!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<br />
With confidence gained from our newly awarded Developer Grant, and the drive to continue to make our game as close to our vision as we can, we head into the Summer of 2015 with smiles on our faces.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">~End of PART 1~</span></b></div>
<br />
Stay tuned for Part 2!<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
For all other inquiries, or to set up an interview, please email us at info@xingthegame.com :)</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-32745074728628216212017-09-15T16:29:00.000-07:002017-09-15T16:41:01.791-07:00LAUNCH DELAYED 3 DAYS TO SEPTEMBER 21STHey everyone,<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
Just a heads up. Due to some extra review stuff we didn't factor in, we need to delay our PC and VR launch by 3 days to Thursday the 21st. Sorry for the extra wait!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="giphy-embed" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://giphy.com/embed/y7kvOYLzas6Ag" width="480"></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-70998170225648266232017-08-25T17:46:00.000-07:002017-08-26T13:53:51.307-07:00Looking for Reviewers and Previewers + Link to free XING OST Music Track!<br />
<br />
Only 3 weeks till launch! :O<br />
<br />
<h3>
Goodbye Pre-Orders</h3>
<ul>
<li>We have deleted the "Pre-Order" page on our website, as we will no longer be taking pre-orders. </li>
</ul>
<div style="padding-bottom: 54%; position: relative;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/PlasticDampCrocodileskink" style="left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Reviews and Previews</h3>
<ul>
<li>We are looking for more people who would like to receive a <b>review or preview</b> copy of XING, so anyone who has a website or YouTube channel who might be interested can apply! </li>
<li>Also, if you have a favorite reviewer or YouTube gamer you'd like to see get a copy of XING to <b>preview or review</b>, send us an email at <b>info@xingthegame.com</b> with a link to their channel, and let them know in a comment that you'd like to see them play XING!</li>
</ul>
<div style="padding-bottom: 54%; position: relative;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/ElegantFamousDavidstiger" style="left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<h3>
Free Track from the XING: The Land Beyond Soundtrack!</h3>
<div>
<ul>
<li>We have uploaded a track from our game to sound cloud for anyone who would like to listen to it or download it! It's a small taste of what you can expect to hear in the final soundtrack, which has become a delectable treat for your ears!</li>
</ul>
<div>
You can listen to it here:<br />
<iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/339525824&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false"></iframe>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Cheers!</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-34099300891239263152017-08-10T08:21:00.000-07:002017-08-10T08:21:53.336-07:00We Have a Release Date! + Check out the Brand New Trailer :DSeptember 18th. That's the day.<br />
<br />
After years of working on this project, we are now so close to the finish line. It's been a huge challenge, with lots of ups and downs, and now we are on the final stretch!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/N-hLrdHqCzE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N-hLrdHqCzE?feature=player_embedded" width="480"></iframe></div>
<br />
There's still a lot to be done before that date, which is little more than a month away, but we believe we can make it! You can check out the blog post prior to this one to get a better idea of what we still have left to do.<br />
<br />
It's an exciting moment to be sure!<br />
<br />
Let us know what you think of our new trailer, and wish us luck in the busy month to come!<br />
<br />
Cheers :)<br />
<br />
KorielKorielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-58914537082695970832017-08-02T13:20:00.001-07:002017-08-02T13:20:44.349-07:00Nineteen Point Seven PercentHey everyone,<br />
<br />
John here. I figure I should make an update announcement to make up for the lack of beta release notes. If you've been following the beta closely, great! We have actually been pushing bi-monthly updates, but things are changing so fast it didn't really make sense to try to make an accurate patch notes for each push.<br />
<br />
<div style="padding-bottom: 54%; position: relative;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/BrightEmotionalBlackfish" style="left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<br />
On a broad note, things are really shaping up. There are only a handful of music tracks left for me to make, and our bug-list is getting smaller and smaller. We peaked at somewhere around 300 <a href="https://trello.com/">Trello</a> cards back in April, and have been working diligently to keep diminishing that number.<br />
<br />
<br />
At this moment the game is very playable. Other than specific bugs, most of my effort has been put towards finishing and mastering the remaining music tracks, tweaking graphical goodies, and adding pizzazz to all the events in the game. We'll also be addressing some "would be cool ifs", especially concerning the ability to return to a world after completion. Ironing out issues with the quicksave is also a priority - players expect the world to be the same when they return!<br />
<br />
<div style="padding-bottom: 54%; position: relative;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/GlumPertinentGrayfox" style="left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<br />
We've also been focusing on pushing out a new trailer, which is really shaping up to be a stunner. We've decided on using an updated version of the original <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6uD25-vWYM&t=2s">kickstarter trailer music</a> as template, but I'm thinking that I might release one of the brand new tracks from the game for those who have been following us since the early days. Keep your eyes (and ears!) peeled for the trailer and maybe a preview of the soundtrack.<br />
<br />
Speaking of keeping your eyes peeled, I'd like to announce we will be announcing our release day.... with the trailer! Which is coming soon. I promise.<br />
<br />
<div style="padding-bottom: 54%; position: relative;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/RecklessAffectionateLadybug" style="left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<br />
But really, actually setting a release date is exceedingly difficult, especially for our kind of team. We've already spent a ridiculous amount of time on this project.<br />
<br />
Actually, now that I think about it, here is some scary math. I started working on this game around April 2012. Up until today's date, that is 1948 days. These are obviously not all work days, so we'll call them project days.<br />
<br />
I just celebrated my 27th birthday a few days ago. 1948 is already a pretty big number, but what is truly frightful is taking that number as a percentage of the days I've been alive. This equates to...<br />
<br />
<b>19.7%. </b><br />
<br />
Nineteen point seven percent of my life has been working on or thinking about this game. And I don't regret a second of it. This game isn't my magnum opus. It isn't my 9th. But it has been an amazing journey of learning, discipline, and creativity. It's been like enrolling in grad school, starting a business, and writing a symphony all at the same time, and thus has been immensely enriching throughout the years.<br />
<br />
<div style="padding-bottom: 54%; position: relative;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://gfycat.com/ifr/EdibleRelievedChevrotain" style="left: 0; position: absolute; top: 0;" width="100%"></iframe></div>
<br />
I also happen to think the game is pretty fun : D<br />
<br />
I truly don't know what I'll be doing or where I'll go after this project is all said and done, but I do know that I'll be carrying the wisdom I've gained from it throughout my career.John Torkingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03609692272081423986noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-28389276295414638922017-05-10T14:42:00.000-07:002017-05-10T14:42:14.218-07:0021 Mixed Reality PhotosHey guys!<br />
<br />
Just checking in. We are busy developing, polishing, fixing bugs etc.<br />
<br />
Here are all of the Mixed Reality photos we've released so far! Feel free to share this post, or any of the photos you like! :D<br />
<br />
XING is turning out to be quite the adventure!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8GLjfTHd_8Deu8byeW1XhVypus3XjmQ3arr5CZZafyHVMdU9c3rVwWtF-hueigZyaYxxof6QAFHXcUzqXSGjMOqdiqeytY4EPE3ZtbDmwOIOndzrtUJ625z7BwKCfmch-PgdN1kACGeE/s1600/01+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Lost+In+The+Jungle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8GLjfTHd_8Deu8byeW1XhVypus3XjmQ3arr5CZZafyHVMdU9c3rVwWtF-hueigZyaYxxof6QAFHXcUzqXSGjMOqdiqeytY4EPE3ZtbDmwOIOndzrtUJ625z7BwKCfmch-PgdN1kACGeE/s640/01+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Lost+In+The+Jungle.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 1: "Lost in the Jungle"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZolvn3FqX-nq0EhhZNh5NlrCogW79B5Z6lNL8sM13c8XS7WJmTY70nB0YBn8SFy67Hs86CcMn1t8WkU_CDzdtI-CLnkg3tmkYvX0PycX2jbseyDp8q2LkBif0zBD3jCMI4qbm-aMRVw/s1600/02+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+The+Flaming+Durian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZolvn3FqX-nq0EhhZNh5NlrCogW79B5Z6lNL8sM13c8XS7WJmTY70nB0YBn8SFy67Hs86CcMn1t8WkU_CDzdtI-CLnkg3tmkYvX0PycX2jbseyDp8q2LkBif0zBD3jCMI4qbm-aMRVw/s640/02+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+The+Flaming+Durian.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 2: "The Flaming Durian"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlhOWniK1Wwygw43-FRxCjaFFroA2OzPlZhAZ0aF9wYZuyeJNiXcoPMzEzUzUHT2Pk13k4zP9V_3iuiy6dtH014CkEoEMAeLnXdvfC72Zc07iz2IODajHK9dDrfEkMAxb-PVz7Ck0kM0/s1600/03+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Crouching+Lilypad%252C+Hidden+Rainforest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlhOWniK1Wwygw43-FRxCjaFFroA2OzPlZhAZ0aF9wYZuyeJNiXcoPMzEzUzUHT2Pk13k4zP9V_3iuiy6dtH014CkEoEMAeLnXdvfC72Zc07iz2IODajHK9dDrfEkMAxb-PVz7Ck0kM0/s640/03+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Crouching+Lilypad%252C+Hidden+Rainforest.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 3: "Crouching Lilypad, Hidden Rainforest"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiChtfNJFVD1_rxG6IqhreOvxAeALpgbVbtosQnh7yk4J7l-NIzBmDee8TUJVY8hGxyV6nCaWu1qudjFRb7jTFzqIZJ5D6O4A4wjmPTeRhT8O5q7D6k4cj8VzWul2WTABaelEFzBJErtkk/s1600/04+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Virtually+Snowing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiChtfNJFVD1_rxG6IqhreOvxAeALpgbVbtosQnh7yk4J7l-NIzBmDee8TUJVY8hGxyV6nCaWu1qudjFRb7jTFzqIZJ5D6O4A4wjmPTeRhT8O5q7D6k4cj8VzWul2WTABaelEFzBJErtkk/s640/04+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Virtually+Snowing.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 4: "Virtually Snowing"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmrCXiy-0c_0p0sPGawaIxQgBkLV1xdJJyZAKFp5URSIpbPqTmoovQU_3gzHInn2lhhNSwOHdbhP9ETKL4y8CetU6DWvnPrzuDjyHMUjGSkla-E6O8W8C96m5UdhSjdm5yljUw0Udqn28/s1600/05+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Tablet+on+the+Beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmrCXiy-0c_0p0sPGawaIxQgBkLV1xdJJyZAKFp5URSIpbPqTmoovQU_3gzHInn2lhhNSwOHdbhP9ETKL4y8CetU6DWvnPrzuDjyHMUjGSkla-E6O8W8C96m5UdhSjdm5yljUw0Udqn28/s640/05+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Tablet+on+the+Beach.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 5: "Tablet on the Beach"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHFFdlMPK4PbgE1Wpxz29WH-4_Tge2sizy3UlFkvbsoDPQ1V8o_JrUFtuXFiiWNF28GtOpnjM9JmDLBcrRhYWXQf7wjO3Z7zrUeGYMu7qgPogazSev8_DXYupbdbAgynBWKnbkOmQ20I/s1600/06+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-++A+Flurry+of+Petals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHFFdlMPK4PbgE1Wpxz29WH-4_Tge2sizy3UlFkvbsoDPQ1V8o_JrUFtuXFiiWNF28GtOpnjM9JmDLBcrRhYWXQf7wjO3Z7zrUeGYMu7qgPogazSev8_DXYupbdbAgynBWKnbkOmQ20I/s640/06+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-++A+Flurry+of+Petals.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 6: "A Flurry of Petals"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhShvycJYelC1AM8ugqqjVUcgUWo8aRkry1DfjwtD8gQtcQy3Vzd6U6KM-J83eISFk_qsJVINeM4i4YUA6sI1A1HdyPhEMC33jLRGAt2FutEvNcleWNVQPo3BH5uOxSiJEIcYxEvdwrtUo/s1600/07+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Moon+Path.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhShvycJYelC1AM8ugqqjVUcgUWo8aRkry1DfjwtD8gQtcQy3Vzd6U6KM-J83eISFk_qsJVINeM4i4YUA6sI1A1HdyPhEMC33jLRGAt2FutEvNcleWNVQPo3BH5uOxSiJEIcYxEvdwrtUo/s640/07+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Moon+Path.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 7: "Moon Path"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyujDLL1uFas6fxDLUIes66i6ukHqKQX7szfInchCFPRr8uZUcbPUDb_W8qZHE5pzQ0BsqWGm0bteCjALButoEGr4Njm2fqQP286nDfyxqnQaCFYCj_Xzjf1W2zb2avQG2AyaIGLDZD7o/s1600/08+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+The+Hungry+Tadpole+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyujDLL1uFas6fxDLUIes66i6ukHqKQX7szfInchCFPRr8uZUcbPUDb_W8qZHE5pzQ0BsqWGm0bteCjALButoEGr4Njm2fqQP286nDfyxqnQaCFYCj_Xzjf1W2zb2avQG2AyaIGLDZD7o/s640/08+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+The+Hungry+Tadpole+.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 8: "The Hungry Tadpole"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpFL_nqF1irUOLWXWJzy31S-d3ZRuPlPXiQIS76sY-w95CPa-CAUNrOLSZARqloHQ-bY06AmVMx-_eQqtjXcugjaWhmMunyqf7KaMjZNb27LVNXP9tXABPZ8y9040flKJ7DT8rOoPS9kw/s1600/09+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Pinecone+Pickup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpFL_nqF1irUOLWXWJzy31S-d3ZRuPlPXiQIS76sY-w95CPa-CAUNrOLSZARqloHQ-bY06AmVMx-_eQqtjXcugjaWhmMunyqf7KaMjZNb27LVNXP9tXABPZ8y9040flKJ7DT8rOoPS9kw/s640/09+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Pinecone+Pickup.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 9: "Pinecone Pickup"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfp3vXTmNOamreBD_UzfU5C0UHEE1eWvS3R4N-hn4xVUQgtoW0Wyy4kQYFViiEYxzdg6lfCgv54R_69bNN_FpSDQNYlsydJmwX-xSyRPLoYS5SXUwGP4Hir9DDaWw7Rok5zJ-iKEaQFcM/s1600/10+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Desert%2528ed%2529+Towers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfp3vXTmNOamreBD_UzfU5C0UHEE1eWvS3R4N-hn4xVUQgtoW0Wyy4kQYFViiEYxzdg6lfCgv54R_69bNN_FpSDQNYlsydJmwX-xSyRPLoYS5SXUwGP4Hir9DDaWw7Rok5zJ-iKEaQFcM/s640/10+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Desert%2528ed%2529+Towers.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 10: "Desert(ed) Towers"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP6CpmaNwYGkLCCbE_IOSqRaEwPv7UEvBbxVwBqS8SoiX10aRwaAODh_rArwrLKP-pxwZGlla8shhsxkQ3-D8A3cI400yT-t-lIW6xyI-CAvCuuWxMjrOiwjAktRJej_I0kiKFJxf40s8/s1600/11+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Sakura+V2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP6CpmaNwYGkLCCbE_IOSqRaEwPv7UEvBbxVwBqS8SoiX10aRwaAODh_rArwrLKP-pxwZGlla8shhsxkQ3-D8A3cI400yT-t-lIW6xyI-CAvCuuWxMjrOiwjAktRJej_I0kiKFJxf40s8/s640/11+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Sakura+V2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 11: "Sakura"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgagHahjCfIj8iLrN-sbKxyuftVp2N2_o0nzIR-7oj9_0F-SQtEysaAZ3cUSMARbjafJ-gBWYoPE7nUSr-If2lPbmLzmzx4X76U-G3AyEmbI69WwLEfnVSkcxIEIqODzFo6rAZwoaeRbVs/s1600/12+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+No+Sunscreen+Required.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgagHahjCfIj8iLrN-sbKxyuftVp2N2_o0nzIR-7oj9_0F-SQtEysaAZ3cUSMARbjafJ-gBWYoPE7nUSr-If2lPbmLzmzx4X76U-G3AyEmbI69WwLEfnVSkcxIEIqODzFo6rAZwoaeRbVs/s640/12+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+No+Sunscreen+Required.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 12: "No Sunscreen Required"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_X2SbctpGQru9AD7TkPQItf7e2x5LpGXeLe2e0oXY84edHOYhcx_V0i9tjJb3qKh8gZBY5Q3Mo8z6eo_abDu8Ifv_PtDz0vhdXRIn7XjLOA0O3L8uF9BMHt3iMstCthOZkAon6QH7_Fg/s1600/13+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Night+Shower+lighter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_X2SbctpGQru9AD7TkPQItf7e2x5LpGXeLe2e0oXY84edHOYhcx_V0i9tjJb3qKh8gZBY5Q3Mo8z6eo_abDu8Ifv_PtDz0vhdXRIn7XjLOA0O3L8uF9BMHt3iMstCthOZkAon6QH7_Fg/s640/13+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Night+Shower+lighter.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 13: "Night Shower"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWdXHwp-NkJmEByP76UeBTTVeJlTI7NzqxpMcGnnIpExmt8d1EG6WqTu6q652ZnD1dSrYL1NfwqKfgp0-bsFZb3tr_IAsLIxS6CrK6H_YdyN1WvBHOIYgb1TcXxBsHQndk9khu38sre7c/s1600/14+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+The+Explorer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWdXHwp-NkJmEByP76UeBTTVeJlTI7NzqxpMcGnnIpExmt8d1EG6WqTu6q652ZnD1dSrYL1NfwqKfgp0-bsFZb3tr_IAsLIxS6CrK6H_YdyN1WvBHOIYgb1TcXxBsHQndk9khu38sre7c/s640/14+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+The+Explorer.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 14: "The Explorer"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYNmL89umG91VOpvdKHBJ7jhGRxiJIMpRD3iijxbP3eWFCBLAkd3XCurBuFwNjl78DSuk60T-ZkXFBXyOaZN91g1luaHefPe50Py7i4fvvTI9br6gDI32hrJYrzf2plYZkD5labFUPmmU/s1600/15+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Fireworks+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYNmL89umG91VOpvdKHBJ7jhGRxiJIMpRD3iijxbP3eWFCBLAkd3XCurBuFwNjl78DSuk60T-ZkXFBXyOaZN91g1luaHefPe50Py7i4fvvTI9br6gDI32hrJYrzf2plYZkD5labFUPmmU/s640/15+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Fireworks+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 15: "Fireworks"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwjxEnPf3Y6Od7_UvtNyPbaOh0_9MLH3ov5_84cEPmY4J3reHEU3qwM03mtFDtJag_AfvcwuBxSUWQKJUr8BNFrLw0HVU48VeXAUk1bHkeL039Pghp6RQzwq-MLGMJAXi4mPc4TkSSM4c/s1600/16+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+The+New+Frontier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwjxEnPf3Y6Od7_UvtNyPbaOh0_9MLH3ov5_84cEPmY4J3reHEU3qwM03mtFDtJag_AfvcwuBxSUWQKJUr8BNFrLw0HVU48VeXAUk1bHkeL039Pghp6RQzwq-MLGMJAXi4mPc4TkSSM4c/s640/16+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+The+New+Frontier.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 16: "The New Frontier"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdP7VftT2PO4FEKIiPKshMyQJZbxPjq6q5epjIDpGh5N_3QkTxrUOTJTCJ7ZkCFDMcLwF2rFZxjo0agMP3p5RXcsTrLZmZo-OdehRjQxfWIyVjj1XlfJsk6TfH7Oy_h_KdO_11FKNAtk/s1600/17+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+PSVR+-+Enter+the+Jungle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdP7VftT2PO4FEKIiPKshMyQJZbxPjq6q5epjIDpGh5N_3QkTxrUOTJTCJ7ZkCFDMcLwF2rFZxjo0agMP3p5RXcsTrLZmZo-OdehRjQxfWIyVjj1XlfJsk6TfH7Oy_h_KdO_11FKNAtk/s640/17+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+PSVR+-+Enter+the+Jungle.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 17: "Enter the Jungle"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrcQWk8ZJw4xmRRV3c24d-a5tosifu7_EN8pMZZ82F02BDYhyG8N37TDyFHi9ngBSIxwdqpxKVUePCFSAqjdFyzoXXNpbpxiREu1Q9hhQ9Z13xvQMOz56b8QPwD-k5Y0N1g5GmwkoZJg/s1600/18+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Moon+Stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrcQWk8ZJw4xmRRV3c24d-a5tosifu7_EN8pMZZ82F02BDYhyG8N37TDyFHi9ngBSIxwdqpxKVUePCFSAqjdFyzoXXNpbpxiREu1Q9hhQ9Z13xvQMOz56b8QPwD-k5Y0N1g5GmwkoZJg/s640/18+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Moon+Stone.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 18: "Moon Stone"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8CVQw9YaSywgE7gOfIWi6y4yQ_R47u-lA5E4NRMh0GVKQcyTRzhN7UsfFKtMXtcmyN_iYHW9_W_-IEtlHKh-y5r5MZPWhxbJnA18aVfqgsNppG_FHgddtZ-0vysUBb7Fa5wRF1ZhSBLo/s1600/19+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+PSVR+-+Onward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8CVQw9YaSywgE7gOfIWi6y4yQ_R47u-lA5E4NRMh0GVKQcyTRzhN7UsfFKtMXtcmyN_iYHW9_W_-IEtlHKh-y5r5MZPWhxbJnA18aVfqgsNppG_FHgddtZ-0vysUBb7Fa5wRF1ZhSBLo/s640/19+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+PSVR+-+Onward.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 19: "Onward"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZEEWHXTcg8AkgNOsivyXYvJho1KhpKMJheQClTg6w9AfdSMWzeBEzHQ93jd1YaFFB9562Z4vBzoNHGFA9_uPVke1wobRK5HiB4thNUzWCTHUgmnxsG7m9YgEw04IZhZ3pU2aRQK-q5o8/s1600/20+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Spirits+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZEEWHXTcg8AkgNOsivyXYvJho1KhpKMJheQClTg6w9AfdSMWzeBEzHQ93jd1YaFFB9562Z4vBzoNHGFA9_uPVke1wobRK5HiB4thNUzWCTHUgmnxsG7m9YgEw04IZhZ3pU2aRQK-q5o8/s640/20+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Spirits+.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 20: "Spirits"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI55GeBPwx_25zQew-FMd64DRbwg6NwOId9QT1dVjQdNZaL1-StJSELumgbQy_TuMCklg81OhyBV5xvajIf1p_CqQhQGwv8j6xk-aSi9xtlp6DWtwqYzkD1vkU_FmVQQ2j_qmGJsxuaOY/s1600/21+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Time+is+Relative.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI55GeBPwx_25zQew-FMd64DRbwg6NwOId9QT1dVjQdNZaL1-StJSELumgbQy_TuMCklg81OhyBV5xvajIf1p_CqQhQGwv8j6xk-aSi9xtlp6DWtwqYzkD1vkU_FmVQQ2j_qmGJsxuaOY/s640/21+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Time+is+Relative.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 21: "Time is Relative"</td></tr>
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<br />Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-45270491565494746602017-04-13T15:13:00.000-07:002017-04-13T15:13:04.953-07:00XING Trailer at PlayStation Kiosks<br />
So we definitely should have mentioned this earlier, seeing as how the kiosks will be changing out content soon - but for the past 3 months XING: The Land Beyond has been featured under the PlayStation VR section of the PlayStation Kiosks in retail stores all over the US (like Best Buy, GameStop etc.)<br />
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The first time we saw XING there was an awesome experience!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/l-DaLWEUGg4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l-DaLWEUGg4?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">Or </span><a href="https://youtu.be/l-DaLWEUGg4" style="text-align: center;">Click here to see it on YouTube</a><br />
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Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-57696372719260586342017-04-12T17:29:00.000-07:002017-04-12T17:29:34.652-07:00GDC + Beta Testing Going Well!Hi everyone!<br />
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We attended GDC at the end of February, but not before getting out the Beta build via Steam to all of our Kickstarter Beta Backers!<br />
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<h3>
Private Beta</h3>
It was a fun crunch to get it all working for testing (lots of late nights), and since then we've made a new build update for beta testers to play every Friday. It's quite a schedule to keep up with - but it's also great for getting a lot done.<br />
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We not have the final "glue" that ties the whole game together, so our main questions for people who play the game are:<br />
<ol>
<li>Is it fun?</li>
<li>Do you feel like you want to continue?</li>
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<li>If yes, why?</li>
<li>If no, what would make you want to continue?</li>
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We've kept the Beta small, so we will probably be looking for people to test in the future in exchange for feedback as well, as we get closer to launch. Especially if someone has an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive setup! Those are definitely the least tested!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Qq4nfiPTMQTY1zlOuXKzTScNdkf_O3hbxhvzlnYXE5ZyRxhrTixB2YV7hhRNfo5LCkQUQshjoDvE-zk9BDO3ZtcRMKEI974__WnK_L_i3sFhZTPD2NBWXvl_sDmTkyL80QV6GYqXVBs/s1600/Final+Rain+Puzzle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Qq4nfiPTMQTY1zlOuXKzTScNdkf_O3hbxhvzlnYXE5ZyRxhrTixB2YV7hhRNfo5LCkQUQshjoDvE-zk9BDO3ZtcRMKEI974__WnK_L_i3sFhZTPD2NBWXvl_sDmTkyL80QV6GYqXVBs/s640/Final+Rain+Puzzle.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<h3>
GDC</h3>
We had a good trip for the Game Developer's Conference. Here are some of the photos from GDC:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVCkOD3FAQO3jmc9kYUeuuDVXOpLpMnl2vGRSZRMfJ15wTQ2O_qOiKcxr2lDtkeH9gqF7fa7wVdbQ0Ruk78hg_euIsrbYYri9iqsGGUvmErLYLSmlYDpd72LsWZkMnlpzdhSPzzBFfAc/s1600/IMG_0023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMVCkOD3FAQO3jmc9kYUeuuDVXOpLpMnl2vGRSZRMfJ15wTQ2O_qOiKcxr2lDtkeH9gqF7fa7wVdbQ0Ruk78hg_euIsrbYYri9iqsGGUvmErLYLSmlYDpd72LsWZkMnlpzdhSPzzBFfAc/s640/IMG_0023.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were some crazy games in the Alt-Controller section!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwf3TL_dlzVDtKWF7-3FQHShVKUc8ZM_BHbsBSShi46i1EeYhsaI-cKlnMjJPD0gExQPn7EY1ESg5PMe8dPjV9L2Tgt_q7XAUXElH2RukeKL4o9xWXYYxwvfACF1eDjHB9-Or7A3TlCQk/s1600/IMG_2054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwf3TL_dlzVDtKWF7-3FQHShVKUc8ZM_BHbsBSShi46i1EeYhsaI-cKlnMjJPD0gExQPn7EY1ESg5PMe8dPjV9L2Tgt_q7XAUXElH2RukeKL4o9xWXYYxwvfACF1eDjHB9-Or7A3TlCQk/s640/IMG_2054.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koriel won the bar games at a party!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrwTj9yzbdAeOhx-yiKzAq6gYlmJ1gk-drS4jviVytL16WdhAHitNu60JnDoNTKFExjXteoJH4rPqjEbvfGh6eje_TMeNI5GpytR3WOH-jmNr3rL0VGlgtXDhK8PGwa6U2qqFZavrAZnM/s1600/IMG_2125.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrwTj9yzbdAeOhx-yiKzAq6gYlmJ1gk-drS4jviVytL16WdhAHitNu60JnDoNTKFExjXteoJH4rPqjEbvfGh6eje_TMeNI5GpytR3WOH-jmNr3rL0VGlgtXDhK8PGwa6U2qqFZavrAZnM/s640/IMG_2125.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Up and down the escalators we go!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5x6NsALQiDG1MpebMB9O3l6QrkR_cqK8DygcR5QMEDGT1MycysJ9f_eunNy-5LF9bwW-5nhskmlvLuRn_tiLag9ccfKbjypqfqxoQdK1_C1XZc33mtvrNBFrH7kj2qAyPGk-FaeD8sM/s1600/IMG_2274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="510" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5x6NsALQiDG1MpebMB9O3l6QrkR_cqK8DygcR5QMEDGT1MycysJ9f_eunNy-5LF9bwW-5nhskmlvLuRn_tiLag9ccfKbjypqfqxoQdK1_C1XZc33mtvrNBFrH7kj2qAyPGk-FaeD8sM/s640/IMG_2274.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team photo</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS-lIaK9ix-SrXovsK-dzflRItGzJJtqnnEvwXz94r4Ad7DhIM_-ng7syqK9bikRKuwh-je7WXD_4dqKXNQIf8Lm_DnfogtaqST8u2zq2VU8wmuOL1h43H423egdZCUrBaGqPm5pO0bs4/s1600/IMG_2389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS-lIaK9ix-SrXovsK-dzflRItGzJJtqnnEvwXz94r4Ad7DhIM_-ng7syqK9bikRKuwh-je7WXD_4dqKXNQIf8Lm_DnfogtaqST8u2zq2VU8wmuOL1h43H423egdZCUrBaGqPm5pO0bs4/s640/IMG_2389.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Always great to eat dinner with friends, especially when we only see each other once or twice a year!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr8vjBfzsdkNAZjlG7X-zaaqSZrMkz_zZUN1OSIp8gOgNHt-B4a3uGRXtteQNOiJsGg1CPIaXBA0oaQlkUcf2JcEAwvxR-forvmqTHtII7f46kvBC4Z4nWq4Tcaqrdn3paojQ1L65GDd0/s1600/IMG_2579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr8vjBfzsdkNAZjlG7X-zaaqSZrMkz_zZUN1OSIp8gOgNHt-B4a3uGRXtteQNOiJsGg1CPIaXBA0oaQlkUcf2JcEAwvxR-forvmqTHtII7f46kvBC4Z4nWq4Tcaqrdn3paojQ1L65GDd0/s640/IMG_2579.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Griswold sitting on a chair, watching James try our VR games one of the nights after the conference. </td></tr>
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<br />Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-58791863736108220732017-02-24T16:52:00.000-08:002017-02-24T16:52:31.557-08:00 Steam Store Page!Today we are excited to announce the “Coming Soon” status of our new <a href="http://store.steampowered.com//app/299400?beta=0">Steam Store page</a>!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUpUNEt4x6m9PFXooO4evnTJzZ0tQLIxXAK3XgiG7rU3T-exUr-iNXkwZwOf1r-txp4V3dR4L6fuvWREvvY4QJWn8fs8ts_CAE-ltOEgVvXtRSOBjJD6vgzAgf5iSYoq6yaKBLG3pOnw/s1600/Steam+Page.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="564" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUpUNEt4x6m9PFXooO4evnTJzZ0tQLIxXAK3XgiG7rU3T-exUr-iNXkwZwOf1r-txp4V3dR4L6fuvWREvvY4QJWn8fs8ts_CAE-ltOEgVvXtRSOBjJD6vgzAgf5iSYoq6yaKBLG3pOnw/s640/Steam+Page.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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With the opening the Steam Store page also comes the Steam Community Hub, where you’ll be able to participate in discussions, as well as post screenshots and other media. We’ll be using a private discussion page for our beta, which will be starting very soon!<br />
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Something like this might not seem like a major deal, but as a three person development AND publishing team, it falls on us to do everything related to getting this game into people's hands, including managing everything that goes into making an awesome storefront for XING.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGSZrNg3lrmdTqMsbAY0Hra_cYYPqD75aRpWB7j9VlWkntnfFl9t-tfxa5P-T1_lAftAdueKygJrq9uRH9C0XPjLYgoaMGKwKCJArmxgL3zFA1IPP-aVfNL8CrXEWGacJj6LZBUJUeaus/s1600/Steam+Page2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGSZrNg3lrmdTqMsbAY0Hra_cYYPqD75aRpWB7j9VlWkntnfFl9t-tfxa5P-T1_lAftAdueKygJrq9uRH9C0XPjLYgoaMGKwKCJArmxgL3zFA1IPP-aVfNL8CrXEWGacJj6LZBUJUeaus/s320/Steam+Page2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJM5buz8vnb-yBvjez-DHsXBYRyZKtgL34c_gI9nnpctrz0Iq_O8hvElqfslTNFywME8zYrJs_F13A4y3hAI8gBwr93hJsRBQCPHhtDp-Lg8UqyybkcAfd1eMBPMTVZchnuPlevLzL_I/s1600/Steam+Page3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJM5buz8vnb-yBvjez-DHsXBYRyZKtgL34c_gI9nnpctrz0Iq_O8hvElqfslTNFywME8zYrJs_F13A4y3hAI8gBwr93hJsRBQCPHhtDp-Lg8UqyybkcAfd1eMBPMTVZchnuPlevLzL_I/s320/Steam+Page3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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We’ve also come up with our final “box art” design for the game, which you’ll see in many forms and formats labeling our game, including on Steam and the Oculus store, as well as the PlayStation Store. It’s taken us some time to come up with a graphic that captures both the art and feeling of our game without being just an out of context screenshot background, and we hope this new logo will pique the curiosity of new players.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEiS5BUfxwGCOwUx8g0iLZBnAhMvThCM04cDJyS7LSiYzgLPmSsbe3lp7em1qwXDbQN3vN7YUBmxMyb68SxwXwg1Tt1NJYb6cKMsDvw0FAChKYrdCKdmRv5Sp0DU0Q7S3Y45-4ioT8MME/s1600/SteamMainCapsule.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEiS5BUfxwGCOwUx8g0iLZBnAhMvThCM04cDJyS7LSiYzgLPmSsbe3lp7em1qwXDbQN3vN7YUBmxMyb68SxwXwg1Tt1NJYb6cKMsDvw0FAChKYrdCKdmRv5Sp0DU0Q7S3Y45-4ioT8MME/s640/SteamMainCapsule.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Speaking of progress, we are currently finishing up some nuts and bolts to get our first official beta out and ready for those generous kickstarter backers who earned the beta backer reward years ago. Since starting this beta build push we’ve finally had the opportunity to really look at the game as a whole, and wow, it’s taken a form that we never would have dreamed of back in 2013. The game is significantly larger and more content rich than we initially set out to achieve, and so more than ever we need help to make sure everything can be experienced in a silky smooth fashion. There are still plenty of bugs, features, quality of life improvements, performance optimizations, and overall quality assurance issues to be addressed in the coming months, but with the help of some of our backers as well as friends and family, we look forward to taking on the challenge of the polish phase of development.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqAX5E3ksFb8txtGG8UGOruhe-Km7zzYjawtM8kAFzfQSSNk5ILyTVZ9-F-_9LSBPMwr80xRQ5uTNiIDcnqU3aM0SDeFU5aLsdC52SbYKk-8jbXtUgjUdsUFnZ0ctjCRafHWAG2oOs7VE/s1600/HighresScreenshot00084b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqAX5E3ksFb8txtGG8UGOruhe-Km7zzYjawtM8kAFzfQSSNk5ILyTVZ9-F-_9LSBPMwr80xRQ5uTNiIDcnqU3aM0SDeFU5aLsdC52SbYKk-8jbXtUgjUdsUFnZ0ctjCRafHWAG2oOs7VE/s640/HighresScreenshot00084b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">YEAH!</td></tr>
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For those who have been following us since our beginnings, we can’t thank you all enough for your support and continued enthusiasm. We think XING will find a happy home on Steam, alongside all of our other platforms and distribution methods, and we are eager to see what the Steam community will make of our game.<br />
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<br />John Torkingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03609692272081423986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-60083735820998965032017-01-17T14:53:00.000-08:002017-01-17T16:05:15.082-08:00Kickstarter Backer Beta and Oculus Touch AnnouncementHi! Koriel here. Just thought we should check in to let everyone know what we've been up to for the past month. If you have been following our updates, then you know that answer is probably something like "working for days on end trying to finish XING." And you wouldn't be wrong.<br />
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We did end up taking a week and a half off for a winter break this year, which was much needed time for relaxing and resetting. Since then, we've been hard at work fixing bugs and polishing the game.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="color: #f9cb9c;"><span style="font-size: large;">We have two announcements today that should make some people smile.</span> </span></h2>
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Our first announcement will be nice to hear, especially for our Kickstarter Beta backers. YES! The time has finally come!<br />
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<h4>
Kickstarter Backer Beta</h4>
In about 6 weeks from now, our Beta Backers will gain access to the playable Beta of the game on Steam. We look forward to hearing the responses, comments and criticisms from our awesome community, in order to make the game the best it can be!<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="color: #f9cb9c; font-size: large;">Testing is a critical part in ensuring a polished gaming experience for all of our future players. </span></b><br />
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This is a big step for us in bringing us closer to the game's release.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwEb8sSGuCQLc1ayXf6x_n28f4fNBboHnKsx9KfxOT7WVitAChbUboldj4FVJJc50_hzJRAx6PSjbu4KtVxnxOroICfjLL5wbOtQcBH5fTzKj0_DNX1zxZaVsuDe83ki3hU-P48P7gwns/s1600/KickstareterBackerBeta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwEb8sSGuCQLc1ayXf6x_n28f4fNBboHnKsx9KfxOT7WVitAChbUboldj4FVJJc50_hzJRAx6PSjbu4KtVxnxOroICfjLL5wbOtQcBH5fTzKj0_DNX1zxZaVsuDe83ki3hU-P48P7gwns/s640/KickstareterBackerBeta.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">We will be paying thoughtful attention to the Beta to gauge how close we are to release, so stay tuned.</span><br />
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The second one is something some of you have asked about and suspected for a while now, and that is that XING: The Land Beyond will officially be playable on Oculus Touch controllers.<br />
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<h4>
Oculus Touch</h4>
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That's right! We will be releasing XING: The Land Beyond with Oculus Touch support, as well as gamepad support for the Rift too. You can check out our <a href="http://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2016/09/xing-land-beyond-coming-to-htc-vive.html">previous blog post on our Vive support</a> to see what kind of locomotion options will be available.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMrVkHbV2pKHUMzcqJw1BlBPpdjIK97ffM52W3oXhKnecyzsPKNR3JYLEpFgFRYXhzY3KC4wkzNtWCWWDFS1udGQ8q8tdIOfpVh6sLmcbZlK4r9dryd2C9TJ8mXxRDg4w9mmih2xPnOk/s1600/XingOculusTouch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMrVkHbV2pKHUMzcqJw1BlBPpdjIK97ffM52W3oXhKnecyzsPKNR3JYLEpFgFRYXhzY3KC4wkzNtWCWWDFS1udGQ8q8tdIOfpVh6sLmcbZlK4r9dryd2C9TJ8mXxRDg4w9mmih2xPnOk/s640/XingOculusTouch.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I created this handy little infographic showing all of the hardware XING will be supporting on its PC and PS4 launches:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP2ulFdgzkaCb2qvGuGg4YvLNUiq8YUhCJPeASBgXBuIIBbUH_GpHpDK7W9vm7cFjSeJFPvdSVGyFAB8ZV0Z0CVBAyeLlxvoTsM0RlXOGrgittt5MdllLz2oT2zOPYSgNPHknRREvj7_4/s1600/Platforms2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP2ulFdgzkaCb2qvGuGg4YvLNUiq8YUhCJPeASBgXBuIIBbUH_GpHpDK7W9vm7cFjSeJFPvdSVGyFAB8ZV0Z0CVBAyeLlxvoTsM0RlXOGrgittt5MdllLz2oT2zOPYSgNPHknRREvj7_4/s1600/Platforms2.jpg" /></a></div>
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And yes, you caught that right. We will have two separate launches for PC and PlayStation 4. This has mostly to do with a lot of back end work involved in both launches, and the reality of the manpower that we currently possess.<br />
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With just 3 of us working on the project, our main focus has been on the game itself. That's not to say we haven't been working on platform support - far from it. But it's just a fact that we would be spread way too thin trying to do one big simultaneous release on all platforms.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNFSAno0yMEvOw5ptv_Nsxfe0bn8-QVMceypyKeYsZ-HOoxFze0XL3U38sriN_gYIYsUxtQXYmic0CMpQhaIOxAKxMJKJJVQjQ98AnSsCZy8DVKTX4_-YhWdBeMMeSJs8j6hcjeX5i6U/s1600/8fb32e24d2c9459bfaeb413c20d769ee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKNFSAno0yMEvOw5ptv_Nsxfe0bn8-QVMceypyKeYsZ-HOoxFze0XL3U38sriN_gYIYsUxtQXYmic0CMpQhaIOxAKxMJKJJVQjQ98AnSsCZy8DVKTX4_-YhWdBeMMeSJs8j6hcjeX5i6U/s400/8fb32e24d2c9459bfaeb413c20d769ee.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Since we are self-publishing on the PlayStation store, it's more practical and realistic for us to release on PC first, and then go through all the steps necessary to get an even more polished version of the game on the PS4, while also working any PS4 and PSVR-specific features.<br />
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Plus, while we are working on our PlayStation 4 release, we can be updating our PC release with any patches necessary, since it is easier to update PC builds.<br />
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Whether this is your first time reading one of our updates or you are a long-time follower, thanks so much for reading!Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-77869823769075376522016-12-01T13:10:00.001-08:002016-12-01T13:32:05.497-08:00Building Accessibility into XING: The Land Beyond<div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Gamers enjoy immersing themselves into worlds that become their new reality. </span></div>
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I<span style="font-family: inherit;">n order to participate and play video games, players must be comfortable and knowledgeable of the controls.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are a variety of ways video games are played across many different platforms, and it is up to game designers to determine appropriate control schemes for their games. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition to thoughtfully setting controls, designers must also avoid accessibility issues of the content in the game itself, such as the effect color blindness or deafness may have on gameplay. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">We began making considerations for the accessibility of XING very early on. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">XING is a game that is played at the player’s own pace, so it naturally fits into a certain category of accessibility for people who may have slower reaction times or may need to make decisions at their own pace. Since XING was already accessible in this way, we began to always ask ourselves if we were designing the rest of the game to be accommodating for other types of needs. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7OpBoNLq0bU0wBRvZAFN1D6xigiIZWJoKQ6Vg09H7xD8UALGILgLbpU7dvorA-zpoW8NyAVXi4s88dz4HSbyw0XyhLIb2k1Tu18kIt2yHZmGpy9g8qe5LANwDOFxn4uDDXoTcqiyOFd8/s1600/accessibility.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7OpBoNLq0bU0wBRvZAFN1D6xigiIZWJoKQ6Vg09H7xD8UALGILgLbpU7dvorA-zpoW8NyAVXi4s88dz4HSbyw0XyhLIb2k1Tu18kIt2yHZmGpy9g8qe5LANwDOFxn4uDDXoTcqiyOFd8/s320/accessibility.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Color</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">During development, we have had likely somewhere near a few hundred conversations about color choices. One edifying source for color choice is the game Portal, of which playing was assigned as homework to the team of White Lotus Interactive while we were students in Level Design 1 at Chapman University. Portal introduces new mechanics to the player and teaches them how to play in famously successful ways, and color choices are a huge reason why. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The mechanics the player needs to interact with will often have <b>vibrant color and lighting that sticks out from the duller background elements.</b> With XING we have made careful consideration of styling game mechanics such that they are visually distinct from the environments but retain a feeling of belonging in the game world. In regards to color blindness, <b>no puzzle or mechanic relies strictly on color.</b> Effort has gone into making a diverse and satisfying palette of colors for the effects and symbols of various game mechanics; however, <b>distinguishing those colors is not necessary for solving puzzles thanks to use of symbols</b> and other clues. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6IiV5f_RnLLG6BY_2RD5FiT1IMV9A6YpCIufPEsac7yDDdAl337hVfwp_QJ6xMiCmaCZ-GOY2ajMHS3TMmnIzB8UN_fLNuODU7X3T9y2IymnpvXtaCu2nyId-3Gxc6-3qECsb1nlQ0y4/s1600/XING+Rainforest.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6IiV5f_RnLLG6BY_2RD5FiT1IMV9A6YpCIufPEsac7yDDdAl337hVfwp_QJ6xMiCmaCZ-GOY2ajMHS3TMmnIzB8UN_fLNuODU7X3T9y2IymnpvXtaCu2nyId-3Gxc6-3qECsb1nlQ0y4/s640/XING+Rainforest.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">XING: The Land Beyond - Color helps to supplement symbols, but does not replace them. Glowing also helps to distinguish game-play elements vs. environmental decoration.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcX-B5U6E7VT14z43JgjF_Df6PC0c__QuNYeai38No4_8H4HQnxENh649MRvYGcj_iVuyzaHdH3FHeECiulew00B1TOZo3L-p8ekmpl7QyyfJYyaCKqEqEnrxk_nxe8o6FTL7wKddenGA/s1600/Color+Blindness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcX-B5U6E7VT14z43JgjF_Df6PC0c__QuNYeai38No4_8H4HQnxENh649MRvYGcj_iVuyzaHdH3FHeECiulew00B1TOZo3L-p8ekmpl7QyyfJYyaCKqEqEnrxk_nxe8o6FTL7wKddenGA/s640/Color+Blindness.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here's an example you can A-B through if you click on the photos:</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtrSlcaE3Ts9IEruxhlUaAOAjDgEkD-szy1D_vOjul6uWm6VwChp81oLJOEGN32eNEDq2EiAE6hf-OR_Lc7Dspf2KL0lPBY3ZpHABrorPatkhks-gm2lz8ABKerdc_zyDVyrS7cT-Inos/s1600/vc_VlR6Tk_orig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtrSlcaE3Ts9IEruxhlUaAOAjDgEkD-szy1D_vOjul6uWm6VwChp81oLJOEGN32eNEDq2EiAE6hf-OR_Lc7Dspf2KL0lPBY3ZpHABrorPatkhks-gm2lz8ABKerdc_zyDVyrS7cT-Inos/s1600/vc_VlR6Tk_orig.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original Colors</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHj7wL8iUNvTWSCu_Z3Uj8HhAD1gqpSpiZ50lQLnZZTP_EaRbjGIjePnULE-m0gnA6PkvN2rB3GGeki7cJo2_12RNNpyQCik-0HK8F8w9IEwAwHPCih-FUjfNgkWF1kYTaU341KPUR8w/s1600/Trit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHj7wL8iUNvTWSCu_Z3Uj8HhAD1gqpSpiZ50lQLnZZTP_EaRbjGIjePnULE-m0gnA6PkvN2rB3GGeki7cJo2_12RNNpyQCik-0HK8F8w9IEwAwHPCih-FUjfNgkWF1kYTaU341KPUR8w/s1600/Trit.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tritanopia (Very Rare)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4_0jZfKyhSt6ju54bGsIsdha8AwI05NgbXKZ9sO5AwBUW4z90ETOs6joD7TmOT9jPsJXDgMml2nGZkTQMt-NsALMT194GCtRGCSHj7Gss49db6rdb_ktIOy5NvIWDnOgRX5rCzHsH6R4/s1600/Proto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4_0jZfKyhSt6ju54bGsIsdha8AwI05NgbXKZ9sO5AwBUW4z90ETOs6joD7TmOT9jPsJXDgMml2nGZkTQMt-NsALMT194GCtRGCSHj7Gss49db6rdb_ktIOy5NvIWDnOgRX5rCzHsH6R4/s1600/Proto.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protanopia</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI6a63Dd_QARN84kE1sOUxcr7QCRuZ0Cch8Z3gi3n5m5Yaeo5PmgcfRS99uVpxVtDx5dTkXKoYSREgbs5glin25ldXuLBs39LoKa5NXSnjVbfqV4yxeFswT5q5e5qDI-88t_KLs1ZbucU/s1600/Deuter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI6a63Dd_QARN84kE1sOUxcr7QCRuZ0Cch8Z3gi3n5m5Yaeo5PmgcfRS99uVpxVtDx5dTkXKoYSREgbs5glin25ldXuLBs39LoKa5NXSnjVbfqV4yxeFswT5q5e5qDI-88t_KLs1ZbucU/s1600/Deuter.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Deuteranopia</td></tr>
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In the above example you can see how important glowing and shape recognition is. </div>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Text & Audio</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The story of XING is told through poetry scattered about the various worlds the player travels to. We have a wonderful cast of voice actors read each poem aloud as you discover them, but the text is still available visually in the game world. Any other piece of information that is conveyed through text is shown visually instead of through audio. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>If there is a puzzle that has some musical or audio component, there is always a visual or symbolic way to solve the puzzle too. </b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwXQtzL1EUuNMgujjXyM3qFoRwvckShsIb_z5IOSJ8TznlYM6rC9NvSochIGabdkLFuTscclGcqf4ztY83q9KXPkJvBs2eLip5FzxFcJ69MDHBOExrNrk2O17ra3TAngAUv_rTJrRqeWE/s1600/2016-12-01+12_22_23-XING+%252864-bit%252C+PCD3D_SM5%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwXQtzL1EUuNMgujjXyM3qFoRwvckShsIb_z5IOSJ8TznlYM6rC9NvSochIGabdkLFuTscclGcqf4ztY83q9KXPkJvBs2eLip5FzxFcJ69MDHBOExrNrk2O17ra3TAngAUv_rTJrRqeWE/s640/2016-12-01+12_22_23-XING+%252864-bit%252C+PCD3D_SM5%2529.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A piece of a story told through poetry that you pick up in the game. These also include an audio component.</td></tr>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />Temporal Accessibility</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Many of the accessibility solutions are clear, easy to ascertain answers. One of the muddier topics has been that of the go-at-your-own-pace rule. XING includes many game mechanics that involve moving large objects around in order to clear a path for yourself. It’s no secret that environmental control becomes a large part of the player’s toolkit, and at various points in development we have thrown in and out other powers. Some of these would have introduced puzzles in the game that would have required users to expertly time a jump, or have to perform an action or series of actions at a certain moment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>While we felt like some of the mechanics we had made were very cool, we ultimately did not want to break from the pacing rule. </b>This not only allowed us to keep the game accessible in that way, but it also helped to streamline and organize the development of our game mechanics. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDr96N47lTMPBdYv-UEJZxV_StVYyrPlPbnwiNQrwLRd6PJ7kISIjKGypaBawR_P0JLZQGa4fQ4AUrSmBrKxM_CnyVavQvLp6l8_yq8ng0HTct8MM2TFZ_PBtJcww8m22WnA0_kN0yuec/s1600/XING+Lake.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibDr96N47lTMPBdYv-UEJZxV_StVYyrPlPbnwiNQrwLRd6PJ7kISIjKGypaBawR_P0JLZQGa4fQ4AUrSmBrKxM_CnyVavQvLp6l8_yq8ng0HTct8MM2TFZ_PBtJcww8m22WnA0_kN0yuec/s640/XING+Lake.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All puzzles in XING: The Land Beyond are go-at-your-own-pace.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>This also helped force us to come up with creative ways to make mechanics work in interesting ways with one another, and to come up with ways to make mechanics exciting or even thrilling to use, even if the player did not feel the pressure of time.</b></span><br />
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Virtual Reality</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Building accessibility into virtual reality (VR) content requires a lot of the same considerations that building for other platforms requires. VR also introduces many new accessibility issues, perhaps the largest being that of locomotion comfort, or how comfortable players are moving around the game world. I talk about our various VR locomotion schemes in <a href="http://xingthegame.blogspot.com/2016/09/xing-land-beyond-coming-to-htc-vive.html">this blog post</a>, and the challenges in designing for rapidly evolving VR platforms. <br /><br />Recently, I showed XING and some other VR demos to a friend of mine who is wheelchair-bound and who has some motor-skill impairment. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Virtual reality is certainly an exciting platform for him, and he had a great experience with nearly each experience we tried. It is beautiful that virtual reality allows him to explore new worlds and explore them in crazy ways, like flying around Paris as an eagle or floating through the vastness of space in zero-g. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">While the latest room-scale gaming with motion controllers allows for complex, high intensity action games that utilize fast reaction time and motor skill accuracy, <b>virtual reality is</b> <b>at the same time providing opportunities to bring people of various backgrounds together.</b> The social application AltSpace is a great example of an inclusive application. AltSpace is cross platform and works on mobile VR headsets as well as setups like Vive with motion controllers. In AltSpace, if you have motion controllers you are able to use them, but you can still participate in the same activities even if you do not have motion controllers. While I don’t think every game developed needs to be changed and made completely accessible, <b>I think that if a game already fits the mold for potentially being enjoyed by a wider audience, then it makes sense to put in the effort.</b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5cJ2vrft67o-RATvHBql03QKP466M72K3UiUGrhiEiMFSKjBTh0_cllhJ_mieQYTiMbgvf4LGr6Q_BUXPYRkESSmp1J5O4R1IvzR7BsF7QAeg3CGuGcKyeitCsN56kAxDSiZNtLCr5k/s1600/14906862_10154226428023440_5930093605470632315_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd5cJ2vrft67o-RATvHBql03QKP466M72K3UiUGrhiEiMFSKjBTh0_cllhJ_mieQYTiMbgvf4LGr6Q_BUXPYRkESSmp1J5O4R1IvzR7BsF7QAeg3CGuGcKyeitCsN56kAxDSiZNtLCr5k/s400/14906862_10154226428023440_5930093605470632315_n.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pictured: James (Me)<br />
Virtual Reality also opens up a lot of other doors too. <br />
For example, I've never traveled to so many places with a cat on my lap the entire time!</td></tr>
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Next Steps</h4>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We are still working hard as ever to launch XING: The Land Beyond and ensure it can be enjoyed by many people. If you have any additional accessibility comments or concerns, please let us know in the comments!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016530303397805050noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-81507151433943138932016-11-23T12:24:00.000-08:002016-11-23T12:59:28.129-08:00Giving Thanks + New Mixed Reality PhotoTomorrow many people in the US will be celebrating the holiday of Thanksgiving. Regardless of how it started, it is now a time where families and friends gather together to say "thank you" for everything they are grateful for. For us at White Lotus, we are thankful for so many things.<br />
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We are thankful for...<br />
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<li>All of our Kickstarter backers, who believed in us and helped launch us on this amazing journey. We are starting to see the light!</li>
<li>Our parents, who have continued to support us though all of development.</li>
<li>Our friends and other family members, for putting smiles on our faces; who have been there for us through our ups and downs, and given us comfort and words of advice in times of need. </li>
<li>Our professors and teachers, like Vinnie Morrison, who inspired us to achieve more, and not to settle for just "good enough" in our work.</li>
<li>All of the people who work at Epic Games, for continuing to improve upon and make using Unreal Engine 4 a great experience for all developers, including smaller ones like us.</li>
<li>The software that we use, such as Photoshop and Cubase, for just existing, and allowing us to achieve our visions to make digital art and music.</li>
<li>All the past and present game developers, who carved the path, and who continue to inspire us with their amazing games!</li>
<li>Our supporters who follow us on social media, and who help us share our latest updates, or simply write us kind words and comments. It means so much. </li>
<li>Our health, because there would be no way we could do everything we do on this game without sound minds and bodies to do it all with.</li>
</ul>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgshgjBc_FSNeOSDmqVs0Hgrfmm7hvL03x7oIDAJUUQ3fzI4QdH6FtXuzbkPpALFEJ1hDP8IC0rGJMmA80PHgyMzoIEXm3gkH9eRV4-guV5nqj_b8lw-K8r-CIZlsMsFeJJPXPG002Qw/s1600/IMG_9669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFgshgjBc_FSNeOSDmqVs0Hgrfmm7hvL03x7oIDAJUUQ3fzI4QdH6FtXuzbkPpALFEJ1hDP8IC0rGJMmA80PHgyMzoIEXm3gkH9eRV4-guV5nqj_b8lw-K8r-CIZlsMsFeJJPXPG002Qw/s640/IMG_9669.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Thanksgiving from James, Koriel, and John :D<br />
(Photo from GDC 2015)</td></tr>
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We hope that everyone giving thanks tomorrow tries to look at the positives in their lives, and keeps motivated to live their lives to the fullest. :)<br />
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Also, before we let you go, here is the newest addition to our Mixed Reality photo series<br />
featuring XING: The Land Beyond!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitRdbISIQmTvQ4w7B8eqhnpvL_sFCo7g2XEmqhNeExKf5wi3pXYgu0FD0mcP_ikxHp1niNd-zHQbhT_lGp9kuRCHQbjriLjc4qnt0q38IhMaFsR_8LddzyjzAA42xIQ95DSs4AJDBzCew/s1600/14+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+The+Explorer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitRdbISIQmTvQ4w7B8eqhnpvL_sFCo7g2XEmqhNeExKf5wi3pXYgu0FD0mcP_ikxHp1niNd-zHQbhT_lGp9kuRCHQbjriLjc4qnt0q38IhMaFsR_8LddzyjzAA42xIQ95DSs4AJDBzCew/s640/14+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+The+Explorer.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful rest of the week!<br />
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Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-67548393930182153832016-11-14T13:21:00.001-08:002016-11-14T13:21:06.501-08:00Graphics in XING + The Bright Side of DelaysHello, John here!<br />
<br />
For my blog post today I'm going to ramble about some of the development process we are going through, as well as some of the tougher problems I'm working to solve. I'll also address the ongoing delay of the release.<br />
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First, a quick update on development. I've recently been busy integrating the changes made in Unreal Engine 4.14 to our custom 4.12 build specifically to better support the ever changing SDK's of all the VR headsets we are supporting, as well as for a few other nice improvements to the editor. Our friends at <a href="http://cyan.com/">Cyan</a> were the ones who really encouraged us to mess around with the engine itself to better suit our needs, and while it's initially a daunting task I'm really happy I dove into it.<br />
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We've actually cycled our entire project from engine version to engine version since the original 4.0 release, and getting my hands dirty with the engine code is certainly helping me better understand some of the "magic" that makes up Unreal.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6I_tqDHNM_93anr0gncUMnpOsCz-0ndeyhr3rWpG_1KGGB2QjGVk7cIUYkWjWbLcpy2IrOabQgxxGDiN_ZmrdzB1bVcZLiyOU9vHwjQpbxC8QH3Fhe4IdYietQlKslryFSbFUnxVxgmGp/s1600/Graph.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6I_tqDHNM_93anr0gncUMnpOsCz-0ndeyhr3rWpG_1KGGB2QjGVk7cIUYkWjWbLcpy2IrOabQgxxGDiN_ZmrdzB1bVcZLiyOU9vHwjQpbxC8QH3Fhe4IdYietQlKslryFSbFUnxVxgmGp/s640/Graph.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rainforest Landscape Material</td></tr>
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The specific changes I've made to the engine are mostly small, but important for our game. For example, I modified the code used for saving the game on PS4 to run on an asynchronous thread, meaning the game saves without hitches or pausing. Doing this change opens up the opportunity to have saving run in the background and not rely on breaking gameplay to save the game. Of course, having background saving presents the problem of how to let the player know their game is saved - something we'll need to address at some point.<br />
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<h4>
Anti-Aliasing</h4>
Another important change I've made is modifying the internal Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) shader to apply a simple full screen blur for use with Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing (FXAA). This is essential for avoiding the strange dither pattern on SSAO when we are rendering without Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwkTH1izzJq3yIWXXx8gcOrFe7F6P3J-LxdWqwEJwYEOtWIiHoxi105Zi_8ktlB-1YS_KhQxt8tEF9eh6o_CDfxuXnhZNq-TpwoEGi5S5Jha3wnVrZXSvdBYGIOd7v8WEXnZt367H74aB_/s1600/AOComparison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwkTH1izzJq3yIWXXx8gcOrFe7F6P3J-LxdWqwEJwYEOtWIiHoxi105Zi_8ktlB-1YS_KhQxt8tEF9eh6o_CDfxuXnhZNq-TpwoEGi5S5Jha3wnVrZXSvdBYGIOd7v8WEXnZt367H74aB_/s640/AOComparison.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Speaking of AA (anti-aliasing, or "removing jaggies"), I've decided to stick with FXAA as our primary AA solution. While TAA has some awesome strengths and really can completely remove aliasing in a lot of cases, the ghosting and Vaseline effect it gets criticized for in modern games like Fallout 4, as well as adding a slight rendering cost on lower end hardware, has led us to defaulting to FXAA. I'm not sure if we'll be offering TAA as an option as it currently breaks a couple of shaders, but you will certainly have the option to disable AA if you like, as well as super sampling the game if you have the hardware for it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5QcA18Q_622ut1ZG0aPoksQ6x2lPbJJBGwZNvmdhkco5Iy1Xdjmkk6MFFIvp2Tjwh9K6xOaFfbgLguiG4_DmhkR74yoCynUeQ-13KA1gNnED6rKeVRd0KT2UrOM4aQSNcAFlawfTj0R0/s1600/HighresScreenshot00008.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5QcA18Q_622ut1ZG0aPoksQ6x2lPbJJBGwZNvmdhkco5Iy1Xdjmkk6MFFIvp2Tjwh9K6xOaFfbgLguiG4_DmhkR74yoCynUeQ-13KA1gNnED6rKeVRd0KT2UrOM4aQSNcAFlawfTj0R0/s640/HighresScreenshot00008.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scaling Cloud Shader</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNm8p67Pjrc8vv2vWcMcAHLJBlZ5oxnjDLtV2kbBgUnD8MZlnmU2Go6wU-VfpNEJskFkr8mht7FEe9Sna7TXL44iZq2wAJPSa4U-cllfF8eKMCfY4fn30ZwU97DZM97-LBPV9d5iqHDM0/s1600/HighresScreenshot00005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNm8p67Pjrc8vv2vWcMcAHLJBlZ5oxnjDLtV2kbBgUnD8MZlnmU2Go6wU-VfpNEJskFkr8mht7FEe9Sna7TXL44iZq2wAJPSa4U-cllfF8eKMCfY4fn30ZwU97DZM97-LBPV9d5iqHDM0/s640/HighresScreenshot00005.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Scaling Cloud Shader</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4>
Graphics Settings</h4>
Graphics settings are an interesting point of discussion regarding PlayStation as well. While I've seen a few titles offer some settings to players in the past, it seems like more and more games are giving players some presets to play with on consoles - things like sacrificing frame-rate for resolution and vice versa. I'm honestly not sure what we are going to offer on that note.<br />
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All of our demos on PS4 so far have been 1080p unlocked frame-rate that sticks pretty close to 60 at all times, but to be fair we've been mostly demoing some of our less-demanding content. I personally prefer the game to be running at 45+ fps - any less and I start to "feel" the frame-rate, but I know some people strongly prefer 60 fps, even if it means sacrificing quality. I'm not super keen on providing a 900p setting, although I think a lot of games are 900p and most people don't even notice. Interestingly, another puzzle game (The Witness) decided to stick with 900p to lock the frame-rate to 60 on the PS4.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqa8BbxTIiEdUGu9JEvSN7YDyLlWaX6dpLnlB9_xaBl8xh5G3zhAQW1c122H7CyZ4Rb8sbY4NUYb8cGvhxqBQ8y0LhyE54JWuBC-N-7INDp8hu_1wW6etjbYNpCiE7sjVGLZfDAojm54ag/s1600/PrecomputeOn.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqa8BbxTIiEdUGu9JEvSN7YDyLlWaX6dpLnlB9_xaBl8xh5G3zhAQW1c122H7CyZ4Rb8sbY4NUYb8cGvhxqBQ8y0LhyE54JWuBC-N-7INDp8hu_1wW6etjbYNpCiE7sjVGLZfDAojm54ag/s640/PrecomputeOn.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Profiling</td></tr>
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Obviously the PSVR has a strict frame-rate requirement that we are required to hit, and to do so there is certainly a hit to post process quality and scene detail. I'm not gonna lie to you and say all these screenshots you've been seeing are coming straight off of a PSVR - the settings are noticeably dropped to maintain frame-rate (not to mention VR photos are pretty unsightly at the moment - I wonder if we'll see a better solution to that in the future?). In the interest of transparency, here's some work in progress photos demonstrating what some of the scalability settings will look like.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE1D6DDEgXaSuwtpTXOo_pe7EriY1aBPA-O4-fYWTI1CK27ag5URUayskluixvhqOcNfayXfujkAROa-jOozCW1ZeDypg-YaAqig3lHN4vMi7MKxZcXkF1IhHDkwxhohqG83rbJJuGQTSs/s1600/HighQuality.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE1D6DDEgXaSuwtpTXOo_pe7EriY1aBPA-O4-fYWTI1CK27ag5URUayskluixvhqOcNfayXfujkAROa-jOozCW1ZeDypg-YaAqig3lHN4vMi7MKxZcXkF1IhHDkwxhohqG83rbJJuGQTSs/s640/HighQuality.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work in Progress - High Preset</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyt-kA2X72BFWH7lkkA0D2LrI2h5pr7xwjw2kf0hvDdbwq_XNxdqq_7Ktm2KZYp0aFghGgPYOXOw_dk0fWtck7kKTmkdCnPQg2IJb7J5tUCjgGKLOGDV7_TBoD7d8BUS2L3wCsQajcIZfi/s1600/MediumQuality.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyt-kA2X72BFWH7lkkA0D2LrI2h5pr7xwjw2kf0hvDdbwq_XNxdqq_7Ktm2KZYp0aFghGgPYOXOw_dk0fWtck7kKTmkdCnPQg2IJb7J5tUCjgGKLOGDV7_TBoD7d8BUS2L3wCsQajcIZfi/s640/MediumQuality.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work in Progress - Medium Preset</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2-YHyTmaXo26Awo8osz0VFyFIYoqr_zLjC_1d7aM5R4dkZbX6TckxvVDYHdhTQbSsmqUKUv6wpRSzR_fm1XtH0ZjEjWYo57wj2YXoh7o8DPKrPvFbORadZkzv-3m3FXL6PyrtMwm8mGI/s1600/LowQuality.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ2-YHyTmaXo26Awo8osz0VFyFIYoqr_zLjC_1d7aM5R4dkZbX6TckxvVDYHdhTQbSsmqUKUv6wpRSzR_fm1XtH0ZjEjWYo57wj2YXoh7o8DPKrPvFbORadZkzv-3m3FXL6PyrtMwm8mGI/s640/LowQuality.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Work in Progress - Low Preset</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4>
Conclusion</h4>
On a concluding note, I'm very much interested in making sure XING is an extremely polished experience no matter the hardware you are playing on. I hope this attention to detail somewhat alleviates the admittedly extraordinary duration some of you have patiently been waiting for. The scope and reach of this project has FAR exceeded my expectations setting off, for better or for worse.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #ffd966; font-size: large;">But don't worry, this multi-year delay has some fantastic benefits for you, the player:</span></h3>
<ul>
<li>The game has about four times the content than we had initially designed</li>
<li>Voice-acted characters</li>
<li>A massive set of optional puzzles and content</li>
<li>Literally three years of polish</li>
<li><b>A completely ridiculous amount of art</b> for a 3 person indie team to try to push out</li>
<li>Way too much music - levels that were going to have one track now have 4+ with variation</li>
<li>PS4 support</li>
<li>Support for the three major VR headsets, including tracked hand controllers</li>
</ul>
<div>
It's been a long wait, and because we still have a lot of unknowns ahead of ourselves there no point in specifying a target date. <b>What I can say is we are very far along - things have never looked better for the future of the project, and we are in no way in any danger of disappearing.</b> We've all worked extremely hard to get to where we are now and we will continue to do so until we are happy with the entire package we are releasing to the world.</div>
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<br />John Torkingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03609692272081423986noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-9463686117543404342016-11-09T13:08:00.000-08:002016-11-09T13:08:29.017-08:00Obduction - From the Perspective of an Adventure Game DeveloperEarly last week the independent game developer Cyan released a virtual reality version of their latest creation, <i>Obduction</i>, into the wild. This marks Cyan’s first foray into VR and a departure from working on sequels to their acclaimed Myst series. <i>Obduction’s</i> game design and atmosphere feel deeply rooted in the company's previous work, yet remain feeling fresh and wholly original. Instead of writing about our game <i>XING’s </i>development directly, this week I will be doing so through the lens of the release of <i>Obduction</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://66.media.tumblr.com/40d933db7b4fcfa07cb3b4709235726d/tumblr_nwdwtdDY9v1sylazro7_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/40d933db7b4fcfa07cb3b4709235726d/tumblr_nwdwtdDY9v1sylazro7_1280.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Gamers have seen the release of many great puzzle and adventure games in recent years, including <i>The Witness</i>, <i>Firewatch</i>, <i>The Talos Principle</i>, and <i>Monument Valley</i> to name a few. Despite the emergence of so many titles which credit <i>Myst </i>as an influence for their game, there is actually a significant lack of a pure <i>Myst</i>-style game design actually deployed in these games. That is to say, there are few puzzle games released which stick to the original formula of<i> Myst</i>, which features what I’ll call world-scale puzzle solving, as opposed to room-scale puzzle solving. I’m not talking about room-scale VR here, I’m talking about the scope of puzzles and how they are presented to the player.<br />
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<a href="http://66.media.tumblr.com/1c82694ce48d763e9295e873b6714d1b/tumblr_nwdwtdDY9v1sylazro9_1280.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/1c82694ce48d763e9295e873b6714d1b/tumblr_nwdwtdDY9v1sylazro9_1280.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Standing Apart from Modern Formulas</h3>
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Among the modern puzzlers I mentioned, possibly the most unlike <i>Obduction </i>is <i>The Talos Principle</i>. In <i>Talos</i>, the player is presented with multitudes of puzzles at a time, and the player can solve them in any order. In <i>Obduction</i>, the player seemingly has only one objective to do at a time, or perhaps the player is still trying to figure out what that singular objective even is. At a macro level, the player is rarely wondering what they should be doing in games like <i>Portal </i>or <i>The Talos Principle</i>. The finite puzzle solution may not be ascertained, but the player at least knows which door they are trying to get through. The player is confined to a “room” and must unlock that room. This starkly contrasts the core world-scale theme of Cyan’s design vocabulary, which the company has fine tuned in their latest release.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNiDWgiIVDY4nKmuZLTF3wyLa2aFtAgdhfxYs-wJLX1hU7hQNCEbkI79DAzWGPR-ig8LSdJtSEmV92eDuL8Swxt_Lxak1d9mSaY7-0LsKg9m7s6ty38gD2I3SZg0-EsYlrXXOs2CASdsc/s1600/ss_15c08be59046abbd785ab8e7e8857ba8633f292b.1920x1080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNiDWgiIVDY4nKmuZLTF3wyLa2aFtAgdhfxYs-wJLX1hU7hQNCEbkI79DAzWGPR-ig8LSdJtSEmV92eDuL8Swxt_Lxak1d9mSaY7-0LsKg9m7s6ty38gD2I3SZg0-EsYlrXXOs2CASdsc/s640/ss_15c08be59046abbd785ab8e7e8857ba8633f292b.1920x1080.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from <i>Portal</i></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaBShKnS019NmEvaWJsHpzs3UZWehUTBXYqawuNxiqKcSUH2WkkzG1DEA6Fw-jOJIL_9hI31Pkepp90eo_RH-tVMqGQXnRKRkmXpYjg-70eegyF_cWW8PFcHJFUejcbEipfpGObh579Y/s1600/ss_8061dc63743404a7829eabdd47590421652c318d.600x338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxaBShKnS019NmEvaWJsHpzs3UZWehUTBXYqawuNxiqKcSUH2WkkzG1DEA6Fw-jOJIL_9hI31Pkepp90eo_RH-tVMqGQXnRKRkmXpYjg-70eegyF_cWW8PFcHJFUejcbEipfpGObh579Y/s640/ss_8061dc63743404a7829eabdd47590421652c318d.600x338.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from<i> The Talos Principle</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In <i>Obduction</i>, the metaphor for room-sized puzzles doesn’t exist, and instead the entire game world is the puzzle. Pulling a lever or uncovering a secret code may unlock a door for you on the other side of the game’s universe. This not only contrasts <i>The Talos Principle</i> but also other modern puzzle games like <i>The Witness</i> and even <i>Monument Valley</i>, which each confine puzzle-solving to specific zones. While <i>The Witness</i> also has some larger world-scale puzzle solving that, along with an island setting that really harken it back to <i>Myst</i>, <i>Obduction </i>relies on world-scale puzzle solving exclusively. By doing so, <i>Obduction </i>easily distances itself from these modern formulas, yet remains deeply compelling.<br />
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<a href="http://obduction.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ObductionScreenshot061.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://obduction.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ObductionScreenshot061.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The narrative-adventure game <i>Firewatch </i>tells its story across an expansive game world like <i>Obduction</i>, but without traditional puzzle solving, and instead, allowing the player to explore and observe the story in their own way. Both games use visual spectacle as a way to reward the player for making progress, and utilize the environment as a storytelling device. A desire to see the next vista also becomes a driving force for the player in our own game,<i> XING: The Land Beyond</i>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQW7ivDg5bwF2Yzk7nuVb3wg5-8ZTV4Ap2z4oyXRpTZkL0T8d9OosxP-UDw6l5ZuktQJEdA83LA2DHH29AWGctxb44MGFhc5oq7R3AMyCWH_L5r7ZT3-bn2GC6ksrclxMSGLddXYcGxY/s1600/firewatch-e3-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQW7ivDg5bwF2Yzk7nuVb3wg5-8ZTV4Ap2z4oyXRpTZkL0T8d9OosxP-UDw6l5ZuktQJEdA83LA2DHH29AWGctxb44MGFhc5oq7R3AMyCWH_L5r7ZT3-bn2GC6ksrclxMSGLddXYcGxY/s640/firewatch-e3-5.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from <i>Firewatch</i></td></tr>
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<h3>
Differences with <i>XING</i></h3>
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While the formula for <i>XING </i>has evolved over the course of development, we can still look back to our Kickstarter days and see how the initial seeds of design naturally grew into what the game is today. You can absolutely point out aspects of <i>XING </i>that are reminiscent of <i>Portal</i>, <i>The Legend of Zelda</i> series, <i>Golden Sun</i>, and yes, <i>Myst</i>. <i>XING </i>features a hub world and a collection of lush and diverse outdoor environments, but perhaps the similarities with <i>Myst </i>end there. More akin to <i>Portal</i>, we linearly introduce game mechanics and puzzles, which are typically confined to specific zones. Influence from <i>The Legend of Zelda</i> franchise, especially the dungeon design of <i>Ocarina of Time</i> or <i>Majora’s Mask</i>, can be seen in the effort we have put into creating novel puzzle moments crafted for unique environments. This idea of uncovering novelty became important for <i>XING</i>, and seems universal to all adventure games. <br />
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<a href="http://obduction.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Obd-Hunrath-09.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://obduction.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Obd-Hunrath-09.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I have been playing through <i>Obduction </i>on the Oculus Rift without looking at guides or hints, and the experience remind me of the magic of earning discoveries. Our development team is careful about releasing screenshots of new content or talking about puzzles, as we know those moments of surprise are special for gamers. We are continuing to polish up those special moments in preparation for what we hope will be a novel and memorable experience for gamers. Stay tuned!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016530303397805050noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-59752852770727096802016-10-24T13:26:00.000-07:002016-10-24T13:28:29.779-07:00Quick Update + Mixed Reality Photos!Hi everyone!<br />
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Koriel here. Just a quick update since we have a lot we are trying to get done right now!<br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Update</span></h3>
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John has been off in music land these past few days (working on a bunch of sweet tracks for the game). The new music pouring in is getting us all pretty excited. :D<br />
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James is working on integration for VR platforms. There are still a lot of adjustments to be made to get everything feeling right on the Rift, the Vive and PSVR.<br />
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I've been mostly working on getting into better shape, improving and creating some art assets, and finishing up some in-game text.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Mixed Reality Photos</span></h3>
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Some of you may have seen our fun Mixed Reality photo posts over the past weeks, so I thought it would be nice to put them all together in a post. In these photomanipulations, using both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, we try to capture the wonder and thrill of playing XING: The Land Beyond in Virtual Reality.<br />
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We still have more to come, but here are the newest two, plus all the other posted so far!<br />
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Be sure to follow us on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/xingthegame">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/xingthegame">Twitter</a> to see the new releases each week :)<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">NEW:</span></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiM__gpFOJtRCk4XW4iO592sPRvH6VKk6xgk_XTQRPEAhrrnba20Rmvmu0_tbHQKqTs-liF_Lt_PUnLGS8Ai4o6AsfNeZqGLIgENQSCMx3cjHF6WirmuBPh2FFs0S0I8zhNLCoLrbbXmk/s1600/11+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Sakura+Blossoms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiM__gpFOJtRCk4XW4iO592sPRvH6VKk6xgk_XTQRPEAhrrnba20Rmvmu0_tbHQKqTs-liF_Lt_PUnLGS8Ai4o6AsfNeZqGLIgENQSCMx3cjHF6WirmuBPh2FFs0S0I8zhNLCoLrbbXmk/s640/11+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Sakura+Blossoms.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 11: "Sakura"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwA-DJ1PILfq1dWOvU4M6HMhzuKem3nSZoxiBNrPowQDPVPse5b5U6qnA1HmnfSXdh6WPpaSL-OkcW0B-GNOgQ0YKylaXCmsPdNEGOqBVGxVZul5jRd2oGpDhaRzOptbJQ0-6BWEW0Ah0/s1600/12+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Out+on+a+Ledge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwA-DJ1PILfq1dWOvU4M6HMhzuKem3nSZoxiBNrPowQDPVPse5b5U6qnA1HmnfSXdh6WPpaSL-OkcW0B-GNOgQ0YKylaXCmsPdNEGOqBVGxVZul5jRd2oGpDhaRzOptbJQ0-6BWEW0Ah0/s640/12+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Out+on+a+Ledge.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 12: "No Sunscreen Required"</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Rest:</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjg009V3uvwcNrUy1r5QBiE45mF4AxsCeZzMaOHS1vl1BS7jsOdfH1baZ7hp-TuXgvIydRL8utApF6Lda5UN0FfH0ZQPoSqgkcwQ00JGkwQpJNa2UeBk8QQalKTCpOKGW2_e83BUwnDk/s1600/01+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Lost+In+The+Jungle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjg009V3uvwcNrUy1r5QBiE45mF4AxsCeZzMaOHS1vl1BS7jsOdfH1baZ7hp-TuXgvIydRL8utApF6Lda5UN0FfH0ZQPoSqgkcwQ00JGkwQpJNa2UeBk8QQalKTCpOKGW2_e83BUwnDk/s640/01+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Lost+In+The+Jungle.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 1: " Lost in the Jungle"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpeaa67DqTmAcr4K1wYBCd6fTQ2N2st9eH-cIdbMH4tuoM8ezqmk8pdIx9MAvhDokiS-urruTbI7wmnRQam6AK3UlYNFSlQ86fiMJuQSMzU3HTNjvARWCY1QExf5Uot33zSVlkn_xl-mM/s1600/02+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+The+Flaming+Durian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpeaa67DqTmAcr4K1wYBCd6fTQ2N2st9eH-cIdbMH4tuoM8ezqmk8pdIx9MAvhDokiS-urruTbI7wmnRQam6AK3UlYNFSlQ86fiMJuQSMzU3HTNjvARWCY1QExf5Uot33zSVlkn_xl-mM/s640/02+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+The+Flaming+Durian.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 2: " The Flaming Durian"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOeyJ9LdpvfxRNUURYSSkj7rwW9MOyTGbAa4qBSmoh0ykf5tU-f0kLCu95TufH8UZ3NcT4ztz0iPKTKj2ynQltQ1tTa-2VZtwf2ycZvxfkdaRmVR_AiVnzlbb81QAxhfnOQSLwXKqkQLA/s1600/03+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Crouching+Lilypad%252C+Hidden+Rainforest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOeyJ9LdpvfxRNUURYSSkj7rwW9MOyTGbAa4qBSmoh0ykf5tU-f0kLCu95TufH8UZ3NcT4ztz0iPKTKj2ynQltQ1tTa-2VZtwf2ycZvxfkdaRmVR_AiVnzlbb81QAxhfnOQSLwXKqkQLA/s640/03+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Crouching+Lilypad%252C+Hidden+Rainforest.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 3: "Crouching Lilypad, Hidden Rainforest"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtgIXlyarL2J1aMIksPt66o9khGgAjga6GHcYRgH3DiAnLjWyC_4908vzaZMqdNzwSe68V-eOk2Q5KvtdMqbPf1ZDwOSL775X02yxKJciwQ7pgZkT4xP3CEgmA71eR7FfcBINarbiDXBc/s1600/04+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Virtually+Snowing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtgIXlyarL2J1aMIksPt66o9khGgAjga6GHcYRgH3DiAnLjWyC_4908vzaZMqdNzwSe68V-eOk2Q5KvtdMqbPf1ZDwOSL775X02yxKJciwQ7pgZkT4xP3CEgmA71eR7FfcBINarbiDXBc/s640/04+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Virtually+Snowing.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 4: "Virtually Snowing"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSOjUASzaV8EbZCk9THW9PyRqYQQX8tUTJDM83cG9K_V8jgrDzpaJku_QFGkqvcmlp6AoS167FK_iC7b1WrcUFQ0nNc9tPi4Mrd3pjs6kAamavcKO8CygG6_2WAEgM1QymBteeH2w1Ag/s1600/05+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Tablet+on+the+Beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSOjUASzaV8EbZCk9THW9PyRqYQQX8tUTJDM83cG9K_V8jgrDzpaJku_QFGkqvcmlp6AoS167FK_iC7b1WrcUFQ0nNc9tPi4Mrd3pjs6kAamavcKO8CygG6_2WAEgM1QymBteeH2w1Ag/s640/05+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Tablet+on+the+Beach.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 5: "Tablet on the Beach"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1Xck8vPNtKWgDOHK4QMsG58PhOjXKjiU69_5u5zY15S2Ie8ncaBPyNW2lNV2ESoDuB8cPG5ep0nOKqVoktU5Pje6Ca0DXtQA00WVPWnDYYb2EOfJUL2VdPdNrdioQsver-emlPZO5qo/s1600/06+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-++A+Flurry+of+Petals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ1Xck8vPNtKWgDOHK4QMsG58PhOjXKjiU69_5u5zY15S2Ie8ncaBPyNW2lNV2ESoDuB8cPG5ep0nOKqVoktU5Pje6Ca0DXtQA00WVPWnDYYb2EOfJUL2VdPdNrdioQsver-emlPZO5qo/s640/06+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-++A+Flurry+of+Petals.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 6: "A Flurry of Petals"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5xnF9mXOGBqGGnLFWVhpxtrGJow88nrOPnKgRDdSOD-tsAtdKuAlgDUiCkei8MB-WnXOINCCxnb0prnveg3fcUvAEn3Zfvz-NMDX8aBfYYAinLHWI3L18Hm7FANxRM1bVAyV4mE9v_k/s1600/07+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Moon+Path.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW5xnF9mXOGBqGGnLFWVhpxtrGJow88nrOPnKgRDdSOD-tsAtdKuAlgDUiCkei8MB-WnXOINCCxnb0prnveg3fcUvAEn3Zfvz-NMDX8aBfYYAinLHWI3L18Hm7FANxRM1bVAyV4mE9v_k/s640/07+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Moon+Path.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 7: "Moon Path"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVXORKemvKjDlItvELWPgORf6x9aJTVkyPtrJ54j0d-H-7I3a3OduAbuNKW2fZIN-8zig9aFRqYl5TyyWfDE9QDVvs7YWJvmBPYHa7foWA_m_z6Dr3iniUfdVo6peNPBKPtys6ETsGIc/s1600/08+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+The+Hungry+Tadpole+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVXORKemvKjDlItvELWPgORf6x9aJTVkyPtrJ54j0d-H-7I3a3OduAbuNKW2fZIN-8zig9aFRqYl5TyyWfDE9QDVvs7YWJvmBPYHa7foWA_m_z6Dr3iniUfdVo6peNPBKPtys6ETsGIc/s640/08+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+The+Hungry+Tadpole+.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 8: "The Hungry Tadpole"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGz1VyAvHRXggYPNnjY65cgm69XCr2iPBXkXEfsBmMLRP0EDXZiZTKIayBSMXTOx9ej7YWUVEu4RRH6ApuZa4QPZTtmppghzwhs34gvQVsKgo_g0bcUpHDwedZUUYBfBe64mOy8HZr8J4/s1600/09+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Pinecone+Pickup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGz1VyAvHRXggYPNnjY65cgm69XCr2iPBXkXEfsBmMLRP0EDXZiZTKIayBSMXTOx9ej7YWUVEu4RRH6ApuZa4QPZTtmppghzwhs34gvQVsKgo_g0bcUpHDwedZUUYBfBe64mOy8HZr8J4/s640/09+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Vive+-+Pinecone+Pickup.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 9: "Pinecone Pickup"</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib69XRXObYJLbtoDMrPLeC_Fs5wb81aTWb1I6Wp6MKpPxwXLwXTT1hRMuG7CcbHwQzu2B5crg4clrivhGobHe_lYMJ-vgk5MkT6rvpzBC4wkOC5orp83u0tPEc1qNbSeeKBuQiyG-k1v0/s1600/10+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Desert%2528ed%2529+Towers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib69XRXObYJLbtoDMrPLeC_Fs5wb81aTWb1I6Wp6MKpPxwXLwXTT1hRMuG7CcbHwQzu2B5crg4clrivhGobHe_lYMJ-vgk5MkT6rvpzBC4wkOC5orp83u0tPEc1qNbSeeKBuQiyG-k1v0/s640/10+XING+The+Land+Beyond+VR+Rift+-+Desert%2528ed%2529+Towers.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 10: "Desert(ed) Towers"</td></tr>
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More to come!<br />
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Thanks for reading, and as always, have a lovely week!<br />
<br />
Koriel<br />
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<br />Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-9666971751576508822016-10-17T12:52:00.000-07:002016-10-17T12:55:00.857-07:00Music and Game DevelopmentWelcome back to another XING Development experience. John here - it's been a while since I wrote on the blog, so I figure I'd update everyone on some of the work I've been up to. We are returning from a few XING related events this past week, namely the annual IndieCade (this year at USC) and the biennial Steam Dev Days in Seattle, so I'll give a quick recap of our travels as well.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Steam Dev Days</span></h3>
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Going to events like Steam Dev Days feels like one of the most effective ways to refresh our development and keep us looking at the big picture. Despite our best efforts, we are still a relatively isolated company and can sometimes find ourselves working in a vacuum, so getting out and socializing with a ton of developers, seeing talks about gamedev, and having in-depth meetings with our partners can really help revitalize development.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7n9Cx7Z6P2wdwYFPc5lIYpyCLi4OVl2Z8p5o64KE80wjeq39lWX3OgxnBe3Ogh3f4x5ght2lo7PxYzncrnEkU6LPgctfe45qryrD9X3_ghOibgZIx9msoORF-F01a93I01aQOoOoShqc/s1600/IMG_4239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7n9Cx7Z6P2wdwYFPc5lIYpyCLi4OVl2Z8p5o64KE80wjeq39lWX3OgxnBe3Ogh3f4x5ght2lo7PxYzncrnEkU6LPgctfe45qryrD9X3_ghOibgZIx9msoORF-F01a93I01aQOoOoShqc/s640/IMG_4239.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arriving in Seattle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIqdIvBQRdWgGhYwMFGr4-H3CQ6aU2JpMDBDV2RMmkvHE1sKGasKZAb01dalMXMIKV3-wgBidSMLSeYrVbCw2OmqVNzPGYKleFCp9fEyo0HZAOPbW8EkBYIwM0J3Nk2SPoYGhSZHiRTs/s1600/IMG_4293.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCIqdIvBQRdWgGhYwMFGr4-H3CQ6aU2JpMDBDV2RMmkvHE1sKGasKZAb01dalMXMIKV3-wgBidSMLSeYrVbCw2OmqVNzPGYKleFCp9fEyo0HZAOPbW8EkBYIwM0J3Nk2SPoYGhSZHiRTs/s640/IMG_4293.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keynote about to start!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUFMSZQ8Y4Qu3tEoBqFtCT7qD6YDtSjfZsfMf6MhRuHQOhyD93Gzo4eDSvh4hYl_ugCpJL3aCHL2WED5dJt6XhN_NwwJlwfgd_imlphLXPrvFYqb4tGKatwtBS76UK_RDd5Mo6mbVdo8/s1600/IMG_4312.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifUFMSZQ8Y4Qu3tEoBqFtCT7qD6YDtSjfZsfMf6MhRuHQOhyD93Gzo4eDSvh4hYl_ugCpJL3aCHL2WED5dJt6XhN_NwwJlwfgd_imlphLXPrvFYqb4tGKatwtBS76UK_RDd5Mo6mbVdo8/s640/IMG_4312.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Main Session Room</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcFBmSRuI-i6Yyosha6s3527Gvu01c_kxZbSuIl_Ielh6i4iNCLIE-DCD75q5OaqJ_g00u1L4sUzoSIN8VLDi7_9g88UPNxkhkhedEJiBRp9tLYt4RoMU_LcOot4YgiSp0TJ-FRCnaME/s1600/IMG_4309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwcFBmSRuI-i6Yyosha6s3527Gvu01c_kxZbSuIl_Ielh6i4iNCLIE-DCD75q5OaqJ_g00u1L4sUzoSIN8VLDi7_9g88UPNxkhkhedEJiBRp9tLYt4RoMU_LcOot4YgiSp0TJ-FRCnaME/s640/IMG_4309.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lunch Day 1</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpLfr9mHlAvTp1J-ztnCTH1ICiW55w6HtjHXm7DuDA6iiw1EQvMDAsEZr8fF7N3LzJtaFUz3I4LSNrySPfJdRNrs4bUhoFz483aSLwrcQ0sUNuy1nq_7UjijhBJPjG7KWy-1nRhFskV0/s1600/IMG_1030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpLfr9mHlAvTp1J-ztnCTH1ICiW55w6HtjHXm7DuDA6iiw1EQvMDAsEZr8fF7N3LzJtaFUz3I4LSNrySPfJdRNrs4bUhoFz483aSLwrcQ0sUNuy1nq_7UjijhBJPjG7KWy-1nRhFskV0/s640/IMG_1030.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After Party/Mixer hosted at the Convention Center by Valve</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZuI9Qy4vnJnGGkxPYRsGCiFzke22hpEmAAjMt8Ue-F7ZtMU3P5xqR05nlfTuj2yRneqvJuLhhyphenhyphenCSZNpBQO6rd55EsZ0SK1xJIp0LF9u_i0hYUUUEu8cpwbGW-Jn35TkMCF0vRFzZ8SQ/s1600/IMG_4368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZuI9Qy4vnJnGGkxPYRsGCiFzke22hpEmAAjMt8Ue-F7ZtMU3P5xqR05nlfTuj2yRneqvJuLhhyphenhyphenCSZNpBQO6rd55EsZ0SK1xJIp0LF9u_i0hYUUUEu8cpwbGW-Jn35TkMCF0vRFzZ8SQ/s640/IMG_4368.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Staying until the very end. We made some friends :)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSvStIr106LRPor1NEIQ9jl6Gcv6VFDjOHSgyLQ1Ab-pxic3aQ0gzHICaxEObmL53mGYACUehvFV0NNqwkJ17xyxgKkp3ah2XZ7jaf3N7Pg5M_Rxz3UXOG8vAnmmxJt32OTCm7DAEq1Q/s1600/IMG_4436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSvStIr106LRPor1NEIQ9jl6Gcv6VFDjOHSgyLQ1Ab-pxic3aQ0gzHICaxEObmL53mGYACUehvFV0NNqwkJ17xyxgKkp3ah2XZ7jaf3N7Pg5M_Rxz3UXOG8vAnmmxJt32OTCm7DAEq1Q/s640/IMG_4436.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Unreal Slackers group photo!</td></tr>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">IndieCade and PlayStation VR</span></h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmL2TgV1MoLGKJOu_Ufqr-3Qc7mQh1QBxBlnCrJsFOjYn09oIp4Fy4jJY7AmR12ufL4Rk8ye71I8wUNGDxLgj-NXEkQgGHHbVjiYBlW4awgC1wsT1RlFN_TbiGNpo0irZg2yNv-KO7ZYk/s1600/IMG_4532.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmL2TgV1MoLGKJOu_Ufqr-3Qc7mQh1QBxBlnCrJsFOjYn09oIp4Fy4jJY7AmR12ufL4Rk8ye71I8wUNGDxLgj-NXEkQgGHHbVjiYBlW4awgC1wsT1RlFN_TbiGNpo0irZg2yNv-KO7ZYk/s320/IMG_4532.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
<br />
Sony graciously hosted XING: The Land Beyond at IndieCade this year, and alongside their usual IndieCade setup they crafted an excellent PS VR demo station for us in the Steven Spielberg Building. This help was especially useful for us this year given the nearly overlapping dates between IndieCade and Dev Days this year! This was the first time we've shown XING on PS VR to the general public. Maintaining feature parity along all of our platforms has been a huge priority for all of us, so seeing people lining up to play our game on PS VR hopefully is a good sign for XING and the platform in general. Shout outs to the other PS VR games: GNOG, Psychonauts: In the Rhombus of Ruin and Headmaster for joining us this year!<br />
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And of course, happy PlayStation VR launch!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqz2PfV6wTzno2PZ1jNEqaMPYEAGXjfu1fzKz7R3e7ZIuCiFm5fvdyIx-nw9EbdhT3zFYH8o2Tptms5Qup4S69eyjRIJNJEwa_LBuISbS35-7BfxwPOqEveFI5dbn5gplUzz67N1RcGio/s1600/IMG_4531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="521" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqz2PfV6wTzno2PZ1jNEqaMPYEAGXjfu1fzKz7R3e7ZIuCiFm5fvdyIx-nw9EbdhT3zFYH8o2Tptms5Qup4S69eyjRIJNJEwa_LBuISbS35-7BfxwPOqEveFI5dbn5gplUzz67N1RcGio/s640/IMG_4531.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koriel goes to IndieCade</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHen796aN63Odh7JJZO43WeUKzTMAZh0OPG6_OyM0JIhJtQRPwZPEbGWwnpaArOxb_shsyEsRHpfkeAJRXET_0HJEWzr8W2ATKwspwBwSzDnh8x8wVaN2EbY-pa8wChEYKbiknFGht1Os/s1600/IMG_4530.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHen796aN63Odh7JJZO43WeUKzTMAZh0OPG6_OyM0JIhJtQRPwZPEbGWwnpaArOxb_shsyEsRHpfkeAJRXET_0HJEWzr8W2ATKwspwBwSzDnh8x8wVaN2EbY-pa8wChEYKbiknFGht1Os/s640/IMG_4530.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">People playing XING: The Land Beyond on the PS VR</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlmZyoqYBsc3O42DGy2MKsbjH-FzdaqHA5318yt6BRLRRxjdcJKKGKDat3LhP7CN_gP74pxWRHDSsFvSidMhffRcf9G16LQewlmpGtJvAhnxLqhh5tJ3M9ocwCyBUXrw0c59zh87vV5M/s1600/IMG_4539.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPlmZyoqYBsc3O42DGy2MKsbjH-FzdaqHA5318yt6BRLRRxjdcJKKGKDat3LhP7CN_gP74pxWRHDSsFvSidMhffRcf9G16LQewlmpGtJvAhnxLqhh5tJ3M9ocwCyBUXrw0c59zh87vV5M/s640/IMG_4539.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More lovely games in the PS VR room :)</td></tr>
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Development</span></h3>
<br />
Last week we were able to make great strides on a number of important elements for the game. As Kori mentioned two posts ago, we have a "full" build of the game - meaning all of the levels are present in a single executable. What we don't have, and what we've been working on, are the transitional elements between content; things like a cohesive way to introduce new players to the game and letting them understand some of the core objectives they will want to accomplish during their stay. Some of this work is strictly polish, like refining level design, but much of it has to be treated like new content. We've added a new introduction sequence and area into our latest internal build, and will be looking for feedback this week.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKsUgM93Hvk82jnBPdeZZ8rlxSdwKC2Jqe_kZrudDjUlZkmPjHmW07ZUYH0VUOjeIXQ0gazugEQGkiSzOOUJHnshPwUu1M3OKEfluKqh606devRPuR8moJwb42uvB7NzMiKggKGewFNVo/s1600/2016-10-16+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="596" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKsUgM93Hvk82jnBPdeZZ8rlxSdwKC2Jqe_kZrudDjUlZkmPjHmW07ZUYH0VUOjeIXQ0gazugEQGkiSzOOUJHnshPwUu1M3OKEfluKqh606devRPuR8moJwb42uvB7NzMiKggKGewFNVo/s640/2016-10-16+%25283%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Checking things in and out of Perforce Source Control</td></tr>
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Personally I always have 50+ tasks I could be doing at any moment, so I like to use some time at the beginning of each week to set some goals for production. Sometimes I'll need to prioritize tasks based on events, like getting the PS VR build prepared for IndieCade, but usually I'll try to group my work together based on what discipline it lies in. I tend to get into a "mode" of working on a particular type of task; last week it was mostly post-process and shader work, and before that was systemic programming. This week I'll be focusing on music.<br />
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<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Music</span></h3>
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Making music for a game I also need to be actively developing has proven to be a challenging mix, no pun intended. It's a catch 22 - on one hand, I need to make the game function before I can write the music; on the other hand, the game needs music to function. I often tell people I feel like I'm not spending enough time writing music for the game, but in reality it's going to take as long as anything else - we won't release until it all works. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSQQSQqITf0ecgd-IM7gCsJKMd_xxKDrHC3MJMQnxY4hLN8FE6yvu5Fy8c4ZrjphbvZUYSDrxevmCDAYElbhX-j7ebblsLEI00oL-9WEw1IsGw8CC87UCwIQTCjSBAYgE1_GXwkPvsxU/s1600/2016-10-16+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSQQSQqITf0ecgd-IM7gCsJKMd_xxKDrHC3MJMQnxY4hLN8FE6yvu5Fy8c4ZrjphbvZUYSDrxevmCDAYElbhX-j7ebblsLEI00oL-9WEw1IsGw8CC87UCwIQTCjSBAYgE1_GXwkPvsxU/s400/2016-10-16+%25282%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Library</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I think structurally XING's soundtrack it shaping up to be a somewhat unique experience. In an era of ambient, moody soundtracks that expertly combine descriptive soundscapes and lush atmosphere, I've decided to look to the past and tackle the soundtrack with a more thematic approach. Locations have their own recurring motifs and instrumentation, with persistent melodies tying the tracks together. <br />
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Deciding on the fidelity of the music was also an interesting choice. While there are obvious economic reasons why taking a 100% live audio approach may not be the most appropriate option, I'd argue that a MIDI centered soundtrack actually grounds the project closer to it's nostalgic first-person adventure roots. That's not so say that the entire soundtrack is programmed MIDI - many of the tracks feature a live instrument or two, or a live preformed midi instrument (for example a piano). Ultimately I would say I'm targeting a fidelity level similar to Donkey Kong Country Returns, Fire Emblem Awaking, and A Link Between Worlds - all do a great job feeling modern with their production while still retaining the "retro" vibe of their predecessors. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2v3C9M5U2Tc2pso830UYH2-X1Orygoq-nZMgsatikkQ5O5v1_pYowfXrlCmn9ObNNLTT_aBgMT70v1dBhSNuKFs_1pJlLBkRh4JQqf-EaxZrFeuN0UQv84nxVl9nVhfLvJMtsE8dBZ4c/s1600/2016-10-16+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="438" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2v3C9M5U2Tc2pso830UYH2-X1Orygoq-nZMgsatikkQ5O5v1_pYowfXrlCmn9ObNNLTT_aBgMT70v1dBhSNuKFs_1pJlLBkRh4JQqf-EaxZrFeuN0UQv84nxVl9nVhfLvJMtsE8dBZ4c/s640/2016-10-16+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making Music</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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As we get closer to release we'll start revealing more of the soundtrack, but for now you can listen to some of my work for the game in our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/XINGthegame">various trailers and gameplay videos</a>.<br />
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Until next time!<br />
<br />
JohnJohn Torkingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03609692272081423986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-9861039310318953732016-10-10T13:10:00.000-07:002016-10-10T13:10:19.306-07:00Thoughts on OC3 and Heading to IndieCade<div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
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James here for our weekly development post! This last week I was fortunate to attend Oculus Connect 3 at the San Jose Convention Center in the center of Silicon Valley. Having grown up in Santa Clara, a mere 15 minute drive from San Jose, I felt very much at home attending this conference. This meant that I knew to head to a Philz coffee before heading to the conference.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>They must use magic beans to make coffee that good!</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">VR Software is Leading the Way</span></h2>
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The underlying theme of the event seemed to be proving that great software experiences are eminently important to helping VR go mainstream. The hardware across many VR platforms is stupendous, and now it is up to us developers to make experiences which sing on those platforms. While improvements and optimizations on the computational and SDK side are going to allow developers to push more impressive graphics over time, we have only scratched the surface of what kinds of experiences are possible on existing hardware. </div>
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In between talks and meetings I was able to try out some of the latest and greatest VR titles. Especially memorable was the multiplayer mode of Lone Echo, which I’ll describe as a cross between the epic zero-g combat of Ender’s Game combined with the Quidditch-esque goal of scoring by throwing a disc into a hoop. Another wonderful multiplayer experience I got to try was Eagle’s Flight, in which players warg into the perspective of the titular eagle and fly over Paris while playing capture the flag against other soaring eagles. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Classic "VR face"</i></td></tr>
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Most impressive to me were the improvements brought to Oculus Medium, a sculpting tool which demonstrates that 3D modeling can be accessible and fun with the right tools. The three founding members of White Lotus Interactive, myself included, first learned how to use 3D tools while attending Chapman University in Southern California. One of the skills that must be learned to make 3D art is how to move around and inspect your model or scene. So far, the tools typically used to do so include a mouse, keyboard, and a 2-dimensional monitor. Students must become adept at keyboard shortcuts and operations to even look at or edit their model. This is not the case in Oculus Medium. What VR headsets and hand controllers allow for is direct and lifelike inspection of a 3D model. Instead of rotating your viewport 180 degrees to look at the backside of your model, you just....move your head and look at the backside of your model! It’s seriously magical.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="478" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/fvQZKXInlPQ7QmHcx0zj0jPRUbh-TjDuAh_2maq0LnXoCY4Fp0-Oqlp0SYL29ljwxlfDLTanj3-5ZKSoNxZ6MgEenXDQax4C81FnTmp879-PJNMxXMu8OguyhpS-6wHyRC1kBSw5" style="border: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">I made this dragon in just a couple minutes!</span></i></span></td></tr>
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How does our game XING: The Land Beyond fit into the picture? By fully supporting motion controllers, offering multiple locomotion options, and supporting seated or room-scale play we are prepared to give players an excellent VR experience. We implemented these things so that players are comfortable in VR and hopefully able to forget about the hardware, and just become engrossed in the experience. Having now finished making most of the tough decisions on designing for VR, what remains is shipping a quality game that speaks for itself. </div>
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This coming Friday gamers will be able to play XING: The Land Beyond at IndieCade in Culver City, which lasts October 14-16. Although XING can be played using a tracked DualShock controller on PlayStation VR, at IndieCade players will be able to use the Move controllers to engage with the world directly. </div>
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Koriel will be heading to IndieCade on Saturday, so make sure to stop by and say hello if you’re attending! </div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-55ac9acb-b002-0ef9-caab-40a21fb5ded7"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02016530303397805050noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-83997863302163065352016-10-03T13:01:00.000-07:002016-10-03T13:14:33.360-07:00Starting a Weekly Check-In Post!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hi All!<br />
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So for those who have been following us, you may have noticed our dev blog update posts have become fewer and more far-between over the past year. This is partly because we were working so hard on development and trying to finish the game that we aren't scheduling time to make posts, and partly because as we get closer, we were worried about spoiling any parts of the game trying to look for things to post.<br />
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A New Calendar for Posting Online</h4>
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However, we recently hired a great guy to help us out with PR and Marketing named Alex Payne. He laid out a posting schedule and plan for us for the coming months to follow, so that we can be more transparent with our followers, and connect more with everyone who is interested in the game! He's given us a lot of suggestions about things that we can post that will be mainly spoiler-free: things like cool in-game assets we have made to display and showcase, holiday-themed posts, sharing images and technical achievements on Twitter, and a weekly blog update that will come out every Monday (starting today!).<br />
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<b>Marketing an indie game is pretty tough</b>, and we've read a lot of post-mortems on what other indie devs have tried. Some were successful, others were not. We hope to be in the "successful" list as we inch closer to our release. That means spending more time on engaging with you guys, our readers, while also maintaining a constant flow of energy and work on the actual game itself.<br />
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Transparency</h4>
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<b>In the spirit of being transparent, here are some things we just want to say:</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">1. A Full Build!</span></h2>
<ol><ul>
<li><b>We have recently made a full build of the game</b>, which we have had close friends and family members play from beginning to end. This means that pretty soon (probably within the next 2 months) we will be going into our Private Beta phase, where we will have our Kickstarter backers who backed for the beta get to play the game and give us their feedback.</li>
<li>This is <b>an exciting and scary time</b>, since we will be allowing people we don't know at all, and can't watch over have access to the game in the state it is in. As a developer, it's a tough thing to trust in other people to not share your work on YouTube or anything else like that before it is completed, since there is always that risk, even with NDAs. We haven't spent all this time trying to make it amazing to then have it be shared before it's ready. However, the exciting part will be gaining new perspectives on the overall feel and structure of the game that are not friends or family, or people at conventions who we can meet and watch play. </li>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">2. Polish</span></h2>
<ol><ul>
<li>While having a full build of the game is super exciting, it <b>doesn't at all mean that it's done</b>. We have 4 sections of levels that still need quite a bit of work, including the final level, along with a <b>bunch of polish</b> work that needs to be done. </li>
<li>This polish work includes things like making sure the materials on objects are seamless (so that unsightly seams don't break the immersion), adding sound effects for everything, general bug fixes, testing all of the collision, vertex painting models all over the levels to mask repetition in textures, adding particle effects to EVERYTHING BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME, and making sure that the story flows and makes sense now that the pieces are in place.</li>
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Particles!</center>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">3. The Game Maker's Path</span></h2>
<ol><ul>
<li>For us,<b> making this game was never a perfectly set path with steps to follow to completion.</b> </li>
<li>We've learned and grown a ton as we've made more and more advancements in overall game design, as well as both visual and written narrative. <b>Everything we do is basically learned from what we can find online</b> - tutorials, picking apart how other people made things, and making our own tools to aid in development. </li>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">4. Visual Look and Style</span></h2>
<ol><ul>
<li>Our style has changed bit by bit over the past 3 years of development. I made a <a href="http://i.imgur.com/6oPjRXU.jpg">graphic showcasing this change</a> about a year and a half ago, and now I'll show you where we are today. </li>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">August 2014</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">October 2016</td></tr>
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<ol><ul>
<li>This change has a lot to do with the new technologies for rendering things that are being made on a daily basis, as well as our own growth and knowledge. John is our main Tech Art guy, among many other things, and he is always trying to make sure the visual quality of the game is where we want it. Sometimes it's tough to keep up with the times, since the longer it has taken us to make this game, the better graphics have become.<b> Our goal is to have XING be a beautiful, immersive and modern-looking game the day it comes out.</b></li>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">5. </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Company Face</span></h2>
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<li>Every company has a face that it shows to the world, and ours has been no different. Some people might be annoyed at the PR and Marketing agenda that lies behind the face of all these companies, because very few companies show "who" they really are. Of course, it makes sense not to give away everything you are doing at your company, as a lot of things are under contract not to talk about. However, we want to be different. </li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRIB7VvVntPZXFD2O8tmG7rtOjnLTEhuTiCp8ooVjr_bGS4FkifimXeF2m23ODQIiGc8i-WJwUhVAGN6NuspUuaBtmoS58L3wBNNS2axahVbNN0A1rxJ4YOQATRQdh3xpBm9G9pyFWHg/s1600/White+Lotus+350px.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRIB7VvVntPZXFD2O8tmG7rtOjnLTEhuTiCp8ooVjr_bGS4FkifimXeF2m23ODQIiGc8i-WJwUhVAGN6NuspUuaBtmoS58L3wBNNS2axahVbNN0A1rxJ4YOQATRQdh3xpBm9G9pyFWHg/s200/White+Lotus+350px.png" width="200" /></a></div>
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<li>The three of us - John, James and I - all want the world to know who we are and what we really think. The three of us make up White Lotus Interactive, and so far I don't think we've done the best job at showing our true characters. That's why each of us will take turns writing these dev blogs, in the hopes that you will see the different "faces" of us, and how we work together.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyrARIHhjd6h8X306DwqtOTeiTLi75pFjuKHr87yXYfJvwTIuAOj39jBHgXWZh3lnQXuUHs7PjonefZDTfLDtqEnh8LOD_cZa2VC_erouYhteNoUF63rKmHRQ6woVgk0NBr3o-WUKt7A/s1600/3+of+us.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyrARIHhjd6h8X306DwqtOTeiTLi75pFjuKHr87yXYfJvwTIuAOj39jBHgXWZh3lnQXuUHs7PjonefZDTfLDtqEnh8LOD_cZa2VC_erouYhteNoUF63rKmHRQ6woVgk0NBr3o-WUKt7A/s640/3+of+us.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<li><b>How do we work together?</b> On Google Hangouts, 6 days a week. 11am to 11pm Pacific time. Some days with bigger deadlines run longer, of course, but we mainly stick to that schedule.</li>
<li>We try to examine all the possibilities and solutions to issues, especially when we don't all agree. Sometimes we have to just sit down and discuss what we each think are the most important things to be working on, and how we each think any part of the game feels at any given time. Since we are all equals in making this game, nothing big really gets decided on until the 3 of us can come to an agreement on it. This differentiates us from most studios, with a set structure for leaders. </li>
<li>For us, <b>we are all 3 leaders, and all 3 followers.</b> In the hopes of making a better, more well-rounded game, we will hold discussions on issues ranging from color choice (mostly my area) to how we should best integrate Virtual Reality for motion controllers or locomotion. Yeah, that's been a big one. (We were glad our solutions we presented in our last post [link] pleased almost everyone who commented. That took a WHILE to decide on.)</li>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">6. Us</span></h2>
<ol><ul>
<li>Since starting the game in college, the 3 of us have worked our butts off making this game. <b>We pour our heart and souls into making it </b>everything we envision.</li>
<li>We each still live at home with our parents, while most of our friends have already moved out and taken jobs at larger companies. Our situation has added some strain on our families. I'm currently 25 years old, and it's both wonderful and frustrating to be still living at home. Wonderful because my parents still take care of me, while I pay a small rent with my bills each month; frustrating because I really want to be out my own, with my own place, my own food and my own curfew ><. </li>
<li><b>Money has been a challenge</b> for us, but fortunately we were able to get 2 company loans earlier this year that are making it possible for us to continue working as we do. </li>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">7. The Future After XING</span></h2>
<ol><ul>
<li>It's hard to talk about the future, when we aren't sure what it will hold for us. Whether XING: The Land Beyond is successful or not is obviously a large factor for the 3 of us. And by "successful", I mean allows each of us some mobility after launch. We want to touch as many people as we can with our game, but I would also like to move out of my parent’s house and maybe even have an actual office instead of my bedroom. That would be nice. So while we plan to offer support in the form of patches and bug fixes post-launch, we can’t speak too much about our plans after XING releases.</li>
<li>If people end up liking, or even loving what we've done, and we can make a living on continuing to make games, that will be success. </li>
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Hopefully, posting more often and being more transparent will help us connect to you guys better. More news to come. Feel free to leave us comments!<br />
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Korielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12304076625096651782noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304467836804046049.post-91409732831977042712016-09-08T11:45:00.000-07:002016-09-08T11:45:36.039-07:00XING: The Land Beyond coming to HTC Vive<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 18.6667px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Big Announcement</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hello, world! My name is James Steininger, and primary VR developer at White Lotus Interactive. </span><span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.08px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our team is thrilled to announce </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 22.08px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HTC Vive support </span><span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.08px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for our upcoming game, </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 22.08px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">XING: The Land Beyond</span><span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.08px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this blog post I will discuss the thought process behind integrating Vive, and perhaps discover the answer to the question: how many virtual coconuts does it take to make a Monty Python reference? </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mixed Media Photo #1 "Lost in the Jungle" in our VR Photoshoot Series. Be on the lookout for more to come! :D</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First, check out this brand new gameplay video we made for Vive: </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In case you are new to our development blog or had not heard of XING previously, let me introduce the game. XING: The Land Beyond is an immersive first-person, puzzle-adventure game set in the afterlife. Inspired by games like Myst, Portal, and The Legend of Zelda, XING presents players with a rich world to explore as they solve puzzles. XING may be enjoyed with or without a VR (virtual reality) headset, and has been carefully co-developed for both VR and non-VR. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bringing XING to Vive has been challenging, but also insanely fun. Supporting both VR and non-VR styles of playing has offered an interesting design dilemma. It comes down to tackling these issues simultaneously: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Making a game that speaks for itself regardless of the platform it is played on </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Making a game that feels natural and “made for” the platform it is played on</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 22.08px; white-space: pre-wrap;">HTC’s Vive includes a technology which is becoming increasingly important for VR: motion controllers. Like it seemed with VR headsets, XING naturally lends itself to VR motion controllers. Just as with the PlayStation VR version of Xing, the question arose: how should we integrate motion controllers? </span><br />
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XING has maintained a natural, “everything needs to be part of the environment” design language since its inception, which means motion controllers could add a lot to the experience and fit nicely into our existing game design. For example, when playing on the shoreline of Iztali Point, you can physically reach down to grab shells or swing your arm while tossing a coconut into the water!
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Another bonus with motion controllers is that we can allow the player to hold one object in each hand, whereas on gamepad or on mouse and keyboard the player would only be able to hold one object at a time. So while learning to juggle durians may not be the best approach to solving puzzles, it is totally possible with motion controllers, and no, the game will not judge your juggling skills. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mixed Media Photo #2 "The Flaming Durian"</td></tr>
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<span style="line-height: 22.08px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apart from objects that you can pick up and place, the majority of other game mechanics and powers are activated with buttons, pressure pads, or some other kind of simple action. For development, this means that motion controllers could be added into the game without much complexity. Actually, the toughest issue we have faced in VR has been hotly debated in the industry for the last few years: how do we move ourselves around in virtual reality?</span><span style="line-height: 1.38;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="line-height: 22.08px; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are two primary ways of moving around in XING: The Land Beyond. These include:</span></span></span><br />
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="line-height: 22.08px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Teleportation</span></span></span></li>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="line-height: 22.08px; white-space: pre-wrap;">While I could easily write ten thousand or more words on the topic of locomotion in VR, in this post I am only going to cover what we believe are good defaults and options for XING.
<b>Teleportation</b> is becoming a popular default movement option in many new Vive games and experiences, as it tends to be easy to learn and minimizes nausea. In order to Teleport in XING, you hold your thumb down, point at any location to which you want to travel, release your thumb, and voila! You teleport! For even greater control while teleporting, you can rotate your wrist to alter the exact direction you’ll be facing after the teleport.
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Our Free Movement design has been tweaked and adjusted since the beginning of our VR development, but some of the older options like “Tank Mode” or “Click Turn Amount” are still supported on gamepad. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="line-height: 22.08px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Free Movement</b> is analogous to the FPS (first person shooter) controls used for PC or console monitor experiences like Bioshock or Portal, in which the user controls where they are facing and where they are moving by using a joystick, mouse, or keyboard button. The way you move in XING on Vive is simple: hold the touchpad down and you will move in the direction you are holding that controller. You can slow down by pulling up on the controller, so pointing directly up at the ceiling means you stop moving completely and pointing straight ahead is full walk speed. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mixed Media Photo #3 "Crouching Lilypad, Hidden Rainforest"</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="line-height: 22.08px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="line-height: 22.08px;">We sometimes call Free Movement “reins” movement because it feels somewhat like controlling the reins of a horse. The other motion controller can be used to reorient the direction you are facing, which is especially useful when playing sitting down. While on gamepad the player can reorient themselves by clicking bumpers or pressing left and right on a joystick; on motion controllers you point and click in the direction to which you want to reorient yourself. </span></span></span><br />
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Free Movement is available for players who wish to use it. Teleportation can minimize nausea for those who are prone to it in VR. Both are great ways to play XING. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="line-height: 22.08px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Final Thoughts</span></span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="line-height: 22.08px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In regard to VR and XING: The Land Beyond in general, we have tried to be both pioneering and responsible. While wanting to put out a game and experience that inspires a new generation of VR gamers, we also want to put out a game that is true to our original mission. By pouring our souls into working on XING, we celebrate the fortunate lives we’ve been given and the awesome video games that inspired us to make ours.
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<span style="line-height: 22.08px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recent playthroughs of the game run around 7-12 hours, so get ready for a lengthy VR adventure with lots of puzzle solving, exploration, and the joy of lighting durians on fire (without the smell). There may also be some extra secrets to be found for especially adventurous players. </span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 22.08px; white-space: pre-wrap;">What are the next steps for White Lotus Interactive? We are fixing bugs, optimizing, working on marketing, and working as hard as ever to launch. The three of us cannot wait to show XING to the world!</span></div>
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