One last post for the month I guess.
For one day only - Chaos Symbol is hosting a leap day sale with Project Plasma and my upcoming game, Iron, having their prices cut down by 29% for today only!
29 February 2016
8 February 2016
Project Plasma Mobile Has Been Discontinued
CHAOS 2, or Project Plasma Mobile, was a prototype Android-exclusive mobile game that was released on 12th April 2015. It was a pile of shit and it is now being discontinued as I feel my time is best devoted to bigger, better projects such as Iron.
The PC version of Project Plasma (CHAOS 1) is still in development, it's just Project Plasma Mobile that's been axed due to the fact that it's a prototype game that is quite honestly a trainwreck. Putting out any updates, whether they are to salvage the game from eternal shittiness or otherwise would be a waste of time not to mention the fact that it was clearly a prototype and not a full game per-se.
This is only to say that there will be no updates for it anymore, the game will still be available as a download if you're into trainwreck Android games.
Or if you want a vertical scrolling shooter game that's a bit more wholesome then the PC version is also available to buy with a free demo available.
Project Plasma: http://archangelatom.itch.io/project-plasma
Project Plasma Mobile: http://archangelatom.itch.io/project-plasma-mobile
The PC version of Project Plasma (CHAOS 1) is still in development, it's just Project Plasma Mobile that's been axed due to the fact that it's a prototype game that is quite honestly a trainwreck. Putting out any updates, whether they are to salvage the game from eternal shittiness or otherwise would be a waste of time not to mention the fact that it was clearly a prototype and not a full game per-se.
This is only to say that there will be no updates for it anymore, the game will still be available as a download if you're into trainwreck Android games.
Or if you want a vertical scrolling shooter game that's a bit more wholesome then the PC version is also available to buy with a free demo available.
Project Plasma: http://archangelatom.itch.io/project-plasma
Project Plasma Mobile: http://archangelatom.itch.io/project-plasma-mobile
2 February 2016
Smartphone May Not Ship as Described (Rant)
So this is a rant that I had in the works for well over a year now, however I decided to completely rewrite what was going to be added so it would fit in-line with recent events and I also wish to throw some shade at a certain smartphone company as well. Originally Samsung was going to be the victim when I wrote this out just over a year ago but that wouldn't be fair, because there's an indie smartphone company that's just recently emerged who's just gone and fucked everyone over.
First off, let me get my point across - Stop making new mobile operating systems.
Stop making new mobile operating systems and improve upon existing ones.
Stop making new mobile operating systems and improve upon existing ones.
Stop making new mobile operating systems and improve upon existing ones.
Stop making new mobile operating systems and improve upon existing ones.
We clear? Good.
Why am I saying this? Because a new mobile operating means higher compatibility issues which in turn means higher costs for development unless you have the module already. It also means more time wasted on compatibility. This something I'll return to later in this post as I want to shift the focus to a whole new level of cuntery.
A robotics company called Turing Robotics Industries (TRI) is wanting to enter the smartphone market with what is simply called the Turing Phone which is being funded through crowdfunding. Now this phone is controverisal as it is due to its lack of USB port, headphone jack, and requiring users to use WiFi to transfer files between the device and the phone for security reasons which is heavily ironic as wireless transfer is less secure than using a solid wire. With all of this you can tell that these guys are going to go very far in the smartphone industry and will probably even topple the likes of Apple and Samsung... /sarcasm
Anyway, they've obviously decided to add to their controversy by swapping out one of the phone's most important features... the fucking operating system.
TRI decided to swap out the OS - Android to Sailfish. Now I've always been known as having an affinity towards Android, however I'm not an overfanatical fanboy and I do approach competing systems such as iOS with an open mind, but this particular change angers me somewhat simply because they're using an indie OS. I'm all for indie stuff, I'm an indie games developer for fuck's sake, but mobile operating systems is where a clear line is drawn. As I said earlier on more operating systems increases development costs due to having to buy software (such as GameMaker export modules) to export to these new systems. Not only that but it increases development time having to the games (or apps) compatible with the new system and even wastes bandwidth (for those on limited connections) as it means more files potentially need to be put up to cater for the diverse number of systems out there.
These new systems should be discouraged and I personally refuse to cater for these new indie mobile operating systems such as SailfishOS. I dislike Apple for their business practices and forcing developers to buy Macs to develop games for iOS, but if I got into a situation where I'd have to choose developing for SailfishOS or developing for iOS, then iOS would win. Yes SailfishOS is compatible with Android apps, but to what extent? Just because SailfishOS allows Android apps to work outside of their native environment in no way guarantees that they'll work well. Plus they'll need an app store to allow for Android app downloads and with no Google Play you're limited to either sideloading apps or a very limited app store.
The dumbfuckery doesn't even stop there...
 |
| This is how I'd react at this point if someone else had written this blog post and I was merely reading it. |
Here's a part of their latest statement regarding the phone's change to Failfish... whoops sorry, SailfishOS.
Sailfish OS runs exceptionally fast on the Turing. You will not have to worry about performance issues with Turing’s Snapdragon 801 because Sailfish OS has been optimized to run fast on your Turing Phone. The Turing Phone will still be able to run Android Apps on the Sailfish OS without issue. An Android application store will be available for you to download your favorite apps.The above statement was taken from this Android Authority article. You can read and cringe at the full statement there. Notice that the guys over at Android Authority aren't too happy with the change either and have also pointed out that TRI's statement is full of bullshit.
The Sailfish OS is an evolved continuation of the Linux MeeGo OS previously developed by an alliance of Nokia and Intel. MeeGo mobile software platform was created through the merging of Moblin and the Maemo OS originally developed by Nokia.
This essentially means you have one of the world’s fastest mobile device running the fastest mobile OS with the capability of running your favorite apps in a secure environment.
Phandroid, another Android news site, also proceeded to rip TRI to shreds for this bullshit decision.
 |
| Well fucking said Phandroid. This screenshot of their article pretty much summarises what I'm trying to get across here. |
Right... so they're using a two year old chip that's been superceded by not one, not two, not even three, or four, or even five, but six superior chipsets (SD650, SD652, SD805, SD808, SD810, SD820.) All of those chips have performance that smashes the two year old SD801's performance and that's not even taking into account competition from rival chipset manufacturers such as MediaTek, Samsung (Exynos,) and Intel (yes they make mobile chips too.) The fact that they're claiming that a Snapdragon 801 powered phone is the fastest around when it's two years old and is a 32-bit in the era of 64-bit devices is just idiocy and if you have the balls or lack-of-brain-cells to make such a statement then you shouldn't be in the smartphone industry, or any tech industry for that matter.
The fact that TRI have played around with consumers' money and made spec changes and have had bare fallacies published is the embodiment as to why I treat crowdfunding with extreme caution. Once you've put your money on the table, there's no way you're getting that back unless the project falls short of its goal. People paid good money to make sure that this phone saw the light of day, and now TRI have made it so that the consumers will get something pretty different to what they paid for. I'm fairly sure this is the kind of shit that can be grounds for a dispute and refund through PayPal's dispute system.
When TRI did this they basically said to their backers "haha we've got your money and we're gonna change the spec sheet and give you something different and there's absolutely fuck all you can do about it!"
Shame on you TRI. That's all I have to say.
24 January 2016
Massive Update Coming For Project Plasma
A while ago last year, I mentioned that the next update for Project Plasma was going to be big, huge maybe, however back then I was too vague as I didn't have much of an idea as to how much would be getting added, although I did know that I was going to add a lot of things to it. However over the months I've been giving this update some thought and I know exactly what to do with the game.
I can now officially say that this update will be fucking huge.
Imagine the 0.9.5 and 0.9.6 updates that were pushed out towards the back end of 2014, and the 1.0.2 update thrown in there as well. Those are Project Plasma's three biggest updates and they still don't come to how big this update is going to be, not even combined.
First off, this update isn't going to be 1.0.4, only small updates get minor number increments, this update is worthy of being called 1.1. That alone should be enough to give you an idea of the overall scale of this update.
I'll start with the fact that there will be a major easter egg coming to the game, a new hidden boss, who here thought that Level X's Crystalline was too easy? Well, you guys have another thing coming.
Second, achievements might be coming. I'm still undecided on this. It all depends on how hard they are to implement. If they turn out to be a pain in the arse, then I'll do away with them otherwise, let em come!
The last major thing I have coming is probably the biggest thing although it'll be the one that will probably be the least noticeable in-game. I will officially be ditching GameMaker 8.1 on Project Plasma in favour of the more modern GameMaker: Studio that has been used with Project Plasma Mobile, Iron, Thallium, and will be used in Project Plasma 2. This will hopefully equate to a better, and hopefully smoother gameplay experience for you guys not to mention less of a headache for me when I have to put future updates out for the damn thing.
This also means that I will be able to use GameMaker's own system again although I will keep using SGAudio as I would pretty much have to rip the audio code out of every asset in the game and replace it with GameMaker's audio code, needless to say, that's a pain in the arse.
There will likely be other things coming that will happen likely down to the engine switch, however I'm holding no promises in that department. So I guess that's it until the release. I can't quote a release date yet I have no idea how long all of this will take, last time I ported a game from GM 8.1 to GM:S it had a shitload of bugs so either it'll be a real slog, but it'll be done soon... hopefully.
I can now officially say that this update will be fucking huge.
Imagine the 0.9.5 and 0.9.6 updates that were pushed out towards the back end of 2014, and the 1.0.2 update thrown in there as well. Those are Project Plasma's three biggest updates and they still don't come to how big this update is going to be, not even combined.
First off, this update isn't going to be 1.0.4, only small updates get minor number increments, this update is worthy of being called 1.1. That alone should be enough to give you an idea of the overall scale of this update.
Note: This is not an official changelog. This is just to give everyone an idea as to what to expect, a full changelog will be posted upon release.
Here is a list of what will likely be coming.I'll start with the fact that there will be a major easter egg coming to the game, a new hidden boss, who here thought that Level X's Crystalline was too easy? Well, you guys have another thing coming.
Second, achievements might be coming. I'm still undecided on this. It all depends on how hard they are to implement. If they turn out to be a pain in the arse, then I'll do away with them otherwise, let em come!
The last major thing I have coming is probably the biggest thing although it'll be the one that will probably be the least noticeable in-game. I will officially be ditching GameMaker 8.1 on Project Plasma in favour of the more modern GameMaker: Studio that has been used with Project Plasma Mobile, Iron, Thallium, and will be used in Project Plasma 2. This will hopefully equate to a better, and hopefully smoother gameplay experience for you guys not to mention less of a headache for me when I have to put future updates out for the damn thing.
This also means that I will be able to use GameMaker's own system again although I will keep using SGAudio as I would pretty much have to rip the audio code out of every asset in the game and replace it with GameMaker's audio code, needless to say, that's a pain in the arse.
There will likely be other things coming that will happen likely down to the engine switch, however I'm holding no promises in that department. So I guess that's it until the release. I can't quote a release date yet I have no idea how long all of this will take, last time I ported a game from GM 8.1 to GM:S it had a shitload of bugs so either it'll be a real slog, but it'll be done soon... hopefully.
19 January 2016
Let's Ban the Next US President! (Rant)
So before I start this, I know I said once that I'd be making a point to avoid making blog posts (including rants) that are about politics. This was something I put forward in my anti-rant about Scottish Independence that I put up back in September. However, I'm breaking my own rule for this one, because something happened yesterday that was just fucking ludicrous so here we are in what might possibly be my most controversial rant yet! Yay.
Parliament debated whether to ban Donald Trump... a potential US president... from the UK.
This bullshite all started when someone called Suzanne Kelly set up a petition to have Donald Trump barred from the UK. This petition exploded in popularity gaining tens of thousands of signatures every minute and currently stands at over 575k signatures from all across the UK. The reason behind this ban is because he said that he wants to ban all Muslims from the UK. He also allegedly (I'm saying allegedly as I haven't actually heard of him saying this) wants to tag and track all Muslims in the states in a way not too dissimilar from Adolf Hitler and his anti-Semitic crusade.
Believe me, I'm definitely no supporter of Donald Trump's comments. They are way past the line and I think tracking them is absolutely absurd. However, there are reasons as to why there are two steaming piles of bullshit on both sides of the fence here.
First off, the bullshit behind what he said.
By banning Muslims from the country, he is literally playing into the hands of extremists groups who claim that Muslims will be turned away and shunned and I will say that there is a degree of truth to that, especially with the recent happenings in Germany where a group of refugees went round and molested a load of lasses. So yeah an argument could be made that they're not doing themselves any favours, however I also think it's unfair to paint a work of fine art with a DIY brush if you get what I mean.
Second off, the bullshit behind this whole "BAN HIM" fiasco.
I understand that many people feel strongly about the guy's comments and I am among those who think what he said is way too extreme when what should be done is let any offenders get caught by the judicial system. In the states that's fine as they already have a strong judicial system in place, however in the UK our justice system is shit. People are afraid to prosecute a refugee, or anyone helping a refugee due to fear of being scrutinised or persecuted for it. There's a point where someone needs to say "let em talk, I don't give a fuck" and I think it's safe to say we've gone past that point.
One MP in the debate said that people in her constituency would refer to Trump as a wazzock I'm reasonably confident that people around where I live would say the same. However banning him from the country is a step too far and I can put money on the fact that anyone who supports the petition to have him banned hasn't thought through the consequences that well and simply signed it as a knee-jerk reaction to what Donald Trump said. If you signed the petition, I understand why you did and I won't hold it against you, but I'd like to put a major point forward here.
The key thing we need to bear in mind is that this guy could be the president of the United States who are currently our biggest and most important ally right now. Should we ban him, and he ends up making it into the White House, we'll be in a very awkward position. Not to mention this would potentially and likely even break down our historic relations with that country. As intense as his comments were, the consequences of a ban would likely be far worse.
Trust me on this, I'm certainly no supporter of Trump, but I think banning him is certainly the wrong decision. My final word on this to parliament would be to stay out of other countries' politics and focus on issues that relate to our own country. Parliament have said "no we won't debate this" to certain petitions in the past, and they should have given this petition the same response but hey I'm just one small indie developer who feels the need to get stuff off his chest every once in a while.
This will be my last politically orientated blog post here for at least a year. I do however reserve the right to bend this rule should something truly ridiculous happen but these things are few and far between so I'm pretty confident that I'll be able stand by this rule without needing to bend it. Like I said at the beginning, political (and religious) events are a topic I aim to avoid on this blog but I just had to speak up on this one simply because of how poorly thought out this campaign was.
Parliament debated whether to ban Donald Trump... a potential US president... from the UK.
This bullshite all started when someone called Suzanne Kelly set up a petition to have Donald Trump barred from the UK. This petition exploded in popularity gaining tens of thousands of signatures every minute and currently stands at over 575k signatures from all across the UK. The reason behind this ban is because he said that he wants to ban all Muslims from the UK. He also allegedly (I'm saying allegedly as I haven't actually heard of him saying this) wants to tag and track all Muslims in the states in a way not too dissimilar from Adolf Hitler and his anti-Semitic crusade.
Believe me, I'm definitely no supporter of Donald Trump's comments. They are way past the line and I think tracking them is absolutely absurd. However, there are reasons as to why there are two steaming piles of bullshit on both sides of the fence here.
First off, the bullshit behind what he said.
By banning Muslims from the country, he is literally playing into the hands of extremists groups who claim that Muslims will be turned away and shunned and I will say that there is a degree of truth to that, especially with the recent happenings in Germany where a group of refugees went round and molested a load of lasses. So yeah an argument could be made that they're not doing themselves any favours, however I also think it's unfair to paint a work of fine art with a DIY brush if you get what I mean.
Second off, the bullshit behind this whole "BAN HIM" fiasco.
I understand that many people feel strongly about the guy's comments and I am among those who think what he said is way too extreme when what should be done is let any offenders get caught by the judicial system. In the states that's fine as they already have a strong judicial system in place, however in the UK our justice system is shit. People are afraid to prosecute a refugee, or anyone helping a refugee due to fear of being scrutinised or persecuted for it. There's a point where someone needs to say "let em talk, I don't give a fuck" and I think it's safe to say we've gone past that point.
One MP in the debate said that people in her constituency would refer to Trump as a wazzock I'm reasonably confident that people around where I live would say the same. However banning him from the country is a step too far and I can put money on the fact that anyone who supports the petition to have him banned hasn't thought through the consequences that well and simply signed it as a knee-jerk reaction to what Donald Trump said. If you signed the petition, I understand why you did and I won't hold it against you, but I'd like to put a major point forward here.
The key thing we need to bear in mind is that this guy could be the president of the United States who are currently our biggest and most important ally right now. Should we ban him, and he ends up making it into the White House, we'll be in a very awkward position. Not to mention this would potentially and likely even break down our historic relations with that country. As intense as his comments were, the consequences of a ban would likely be far worse.
Trust me on this, I'm certainly no supporter of Trump, but I think banning him is certainly the wrong decision. My final word on this to parliament would be to stay out of other countries' politics and focus on issues that relate to our own country. Parliament have said "no we won't debate this" to certain petitions in the past, and they should have given this petition the same response but hey I'm just one small indie developer who feels the need to get stuff off his chest every once in a while.
This will be my last politically orientated blog post here for at least a year. I do however reserve the right to bend this rule should something truly ridiculous happen but these things are few and far between so I'm pretty confident that I'll be able stand by this rule without needing to bend it. Like I said at the beginning, political (and religious) events are a topic I aim to avoid on this blog but I just had to speak up on this one simply because of how poorly thought out this campaign was.
18 January 2016
Burnout
This is a topic I held back from mentioning here as I felt it was too personal to share however I feel that I seriously need to let people in on this as it will provide some insight as to what's going on, particularly with Iron and its development.
I have come to the conclusion that I've suffered from a complete burnout, more than likely down to pushing myself too hard to get various things done - Iron and my coursework at college both in particular. How have I been feeling? Well, it has been affecting me I'll say that. I won't go all typical Tumblr lass on you all and be all "oh I'm so depressed I hate my life" because that's not the case. I have been suffering from bouts of depression which have inhibited me from working at my normal pace, but these have just been bouts of depression and I do end up recovering from them. It's not the end of the world.
Without getting too personal, I will say that I'm currently trying ways to overcome this situation. The main thing I'm doing is that starting at the beginning of February, I'll be developing Project Plasma 2 alongside Iron. I was saying in my last blog post that PP2 seems like a much more exciting prospect than Iron and that looking ahead to that is making me seem bored, even somewhat disillusioned, with Iron and developing it is seeming more and more like a chore. I won't cancel it as I've put too much time into it now, but as of February it will be taking more of a back seat and I'll be flitting between PP2 and Iron's development.
If a game seems like a chore to develop, I won't develop it.
I will make sure Iron is released before PP2 however which is pretty likely as PP2 looks like it'll take ages to complete. I will give more details on PP2 as well comparisons between PP2 and its predecessor as well as PPM to see how things will improve from its predecessor which was released around a year and a half ago (no PPM doesn't count.)
I'll get through this, I'm not horrendously depressed or anything and I don't want people reading this to think I'm trying to turn this blog into a fucking stereotypical Tumblr blog. I guess the best I could describe things right now would be me being somewhat disillusioned by certain things, however I'll find ways to work around these issues.
I have come to the conclusion that I've suffered from a complete burnout, more than likely down to pushing myself too hard to get various things done - Iron and my coursework at college both in particular. How have I been feeling? Well, it has been affecting me I'll say that. I won't go all typical Tumblr lass on you all and be all "oh I'm so depressed I hate my life" because that's not the case. I have been suffering from bouts of depression which have inhibited me from working at my normal pace, but these have just been bouts of depression and I do end up recovering from them. It's not the end of the world.
Without getting too personal, I will say that I'm currently trying ways to overcome this situation. The main thing I'm doing is that starting at the beginning of February, I'll be developing Project Plasma 2 alongside Iron. I was saying in my last blog post that PP2 seems like a much more exciting prospect than Iron and that looking ahead to that is making me seem bored, even somewhat disillusioned, with Iron and developing it is seeming more and more like a chore. I won't cancel it as I've put too much time into it now, but as of February it will be taking more of a back seat and I'll be flitting between PP2 and Iron's development.
If a game seems like a chore to develop, I won't develop it.
I will make sure Iron is released before PP2 however which is pretty likely as PP2 looks like it'll take ages to complete. I will give more details on PP2 as well comparisons between PP2 and its predecessor as well as PPM to see how things will improve from its predecessor which was released around a year and a half ago (no PPM doesn't count.)
I'll get through this, I'm not horrendously depressed or anything and I don't want people reading this to think I'm trying to turn this blog into a fucking stereotypical Tumblr blog. I guess the best I could describe things right now would be me being somewhat disillusioned by certain things, however I'll find ways to work around these issues.
10 January 2016
A Statement About Iron
So Iron sadly failed to be released last year, that sucks. In the Year in Review post I put up on New Year's Eve I mentioned under 25th December that Iron failed to be released on that date while I put after it in brackets that I would be putting a statement out regarding that. Here is that statement.
I'm going to be completely honest about everything, while big companies who did this will say anything to appease their fanbase. I value honesty and transparency, not a load of bullshit set out just to set everything straight - to me that's just a long, spaghettified (for lack of a better word) way of saying "lol shut the fuck up it's coming now get off my arse." I don't want to do that.
The reason why Iron wasn't released is because I wasn't able to get it to a point where I could say "there you go first level done here's a taste of what's coming" like I said I would. I know that seems like a straight-forward and obvious reason and there are some people who would gladly say "well yeah no shit Sherlock" to that. Well, there's more to it than that.
One of the cornerstones I set out when I began Iron's development was that I would not procrastinate, and I sadly failed to keep up to that cornerstone and for that I apologise and I feel I've let people down with that. I won't bother making excuses, development on Iron began during summer last year and I had a shitload of time to do it, so while college work has impacted on this, I can't and won't use that as an excuse.
One major reason however why I haven't been working on Iron as much as I should've done is that I just don't feel enthusiastic about it. In other words, I really don't feel happy or excited about developing it anymore... just bored I guess. I look ahead to future projects, including Project Plasma 2 and CHAOS 6 and I see those two games as much more exciting prospects to look forward to. Iron's development just seems incredibly dull by comparison. However I like doing things in an orderly fashion when it comes to game development and on the road map I've listed CHAOS 3 as Iron (yes CHAOS 4 was Thallium, but that game's development began after Iron's.) I don't want to start CHAOS 5 for that reason and the only reason why I looked at starting CHAOS 6 was because GameMaker: Studio was down.
The bottom line is, Iron is coming, however I'm not saying that to say "calm your tits," if you're pissed or disappointed that I wasn't able to get it out on time, I won't stop you, and you have every right to feel that way. My aim is to have it out by the end of February, after that I will probably start PP2 regardless but we'll have to see how I feel at the time.
I'm going to be completely honest about everything, while big companies who did this will say anything to appease their fanbase. I value honesty and transparency, not a load of bullshit set out just to set everything straight - to me that's just a long, spaghettified (for lack of a better word) way of saying "lol shut the fuck up it's coming now get off my arse." I don't want to do that.
The reason why Iron wasn't released is because I wasn't able to get it to a point where I could say "there you go first level done here's a taste of what's coming" like I said I would. I know that seems like a straight-forward and obvious reason and there are some people who would gladly say "well yeah no shit Sherlock" to that. Well, there's more to it than that.
One of the cornerstones I set out when I began Iron's development was that I would not procrastinate, and I sadly failed to keep up to that cornerstone and for that I apologise and I feel I've let people down with that. I won't bother making excuses, development on Iron began during summer last year and I had a shitload of time to do it, so while college work has impacted on this, I can't and won't use that as an excuse.
One major reason however why I haven't been working on Iron as much as I should've done is that I just don't feel enthusiastic about it. In other words, I really don't feel happy or excited about developing it anymore... just bored I guess. I look ahead to future projects, including Project Plasma 2 and CHAOS 6 and I see those two games as much more exciting prospects to look forward to. Iron's development just seems incredibly dull by comparison. However I like doing things in an orderly fashion when it comes to game development and on the road map I've listed CHAOS 3 as Iron (yes CHAOS 4 was Thallium, but that game's development began after Iron's.) I don't want to start CHAOS 5 for that reason and the only reason why I looked at starting CHAOS 6 was because GameMaker: Studio was down.
The bottom line is, Iron is coming, however I'm not saying that to say "calm your tits," if you're pissed or disappointed that I wasn't able to get it out on time, I won't stop you, and you have every right to feel that way. My aim is to have it out by the end of February, after that I will probably start PP2 regardless but we'll have to see how I feel at the time.
31 December 2015
Chaos Symbol - 2015 Year in Review
Well it's that time of year where I put up one last blog post for the year detailing what's been going on in Chaos Symbol for the past year. This one is going to be a special one though as it will also cover 2013 and 2014.
Each event will be colour coded. Any event not in these colours is a generic event.
Pink = Game enters development
Cyan = Game released
Green = Game update launched
Each event will be colour coded. Any event not in these colours is a generic event.
Pink = Game enters development
Cyan = Game released
Green = Game update launched
2013
- 3 Dec - Project Plasma's development began.
2014
- 7 Sep - Chaos Symbol blog launched and first post made.
- 23 Sep - Project Plasma released as an open beta.
- 21 Oct - Project Plasma v0.9.1 goes live.
- 23 Oct - Project Plasma v0.9.2 rushed out for legal reasons.
- 29 Oct - Project Plasma Halloween Sale begins
- 9 Nov - Project Plasma v0.9.3 goes live.
- 24 Nov - Project Plasma v0.9.4 goes live.
- 21 Dec - Project Plasma v0.9.5 goes live. This update is known as the Solstice Update.
- 24 Dec - Project Plasma Christmas Sale begins
- 30 Dec - Project Plasma v0.9.6 goes live.
January 2015
- 18 -Project Plasma v0.9.7 goes live, the final open beta update for the game.
- 26 - Pricing system changed. This change results in a change of currency as well (GBP to USD.)
Februrary 2015
- N/A
March 2015
- 9 - Project Plasma v1.0 goes live, putting an end to its status as an open beta game.
April 2015
- 2 - Project Plasma v1.0.1 goes live to make up for the fact that Project Plasma Mobile was delayed.
- 5 - Project Plasma v1.0.2 goes live - biggest update yet.
- 8 - Playthrough Program announced - will be launched early 2016.
- 12 - Project Plasma Mobile released as a prototype game for Android devices.
May 2015
- 22 - Development on Iron begins.
- 30 - New naming convention for upcoming games.
June 2015
- 8 - To-do list launched, several deadlines missed or probably won't be achieved.
July 2015
- 28 - Project Plasma v1.0.3 goes live. Game enters a long hiatus as Iron and Thallium take priority.
- 30 - Project Plasma officially tested on Windows 10, works well with no issues.
August 2015
- 1 - Yorkshire Day! Project Plasma gets given away for free.
September 2015
- 21 - Pre-orders for Iron were supposed to go live... but didn't.
- 23 - Project Plasma Birthday Sale begins.
October 2015
- 21 - Iron goes up for pre-order, actual name revealed. Thallium subsequently released as a pre-order bonus game. Unfortunately pre-orders went up a month late.
November 2015
- 2 - Chaos Symbol Post-Halloween Sale begins.
December 2015
- 1 - Comments enabled for Project Plasma - later evolves into a full community forum.
- 20 - Chaos Symbol Christmas Sale begins.
- 23 - Itch.io Secret Santa. Project Plasma given away to one lucky guy the following day.
- 25 - Iron was supposed to be released, but wasn't. (Statement to be released regarding this.)
- 30 - CHAOS 6 announced as a pinball game and development begins due to GameMaker: Studio not constantly crashing and refusing to work.
And that's a wrap for this year I guess. Here's to 2016 and the upcoming release of Iron and not-too-distant release of Project Plasma 2 (seriously can't wait to get to work on this.) The development process of a couple of games has been pretty rough (PP was pretty rough, PPM was worse, Iron is currently giving me hell) but I'm hoping to smooth all that out next year and hopefully we can all look forward to a fresh start.
Proceeding onwards...
Proceeding onwards...
30 December 2015
CHAOS 6 Details
GameMaker Studio is currently down. Yay.
That means I can't work on Iron. Yay.
That means I can't start work on Project Plasma 2 either. Yay.
So with CHAOS 3 and 5 incapacitated for the time being and CHAOS 4 already released I guess it's time to give some details on the next title - CHAOS 6.
First off, I'd like to draw attention to this tweet:
CHAOS 6 is a 2D pinball game heavily inspired by Psycho Pinball, a similar DOS-based game from 1995 which I started playing again via DOSBox. This is going to be the first Chaos Symbol game to not use GameMaker: Studio. Instead, this will be a free game that will be made using Scirra Construct 2, as this game is free, there will be no pre-orders and no bonus game being released alongside it.
I was originally planning on doing an engine switch with CHAOS 4 (Thallium) where I planned on using an engine called Duality, however the learning curve here was far too steep and I was running low on time so I decided to stick with GM: Studio.
CHAOS 6's development will start as soon as this blog post is out, however once I get GM: Studio back up and running then I'll be back to developing Iron. Expect CHAOS 6 to arrive late 2016.
That means I can't work on Iron. Yay.
That means I can't start work on Project Plasma 2 either. Yay.
So with CHAOS 3 and 5 incapacitated for the time being and CHAOS 4 already released I guess it's time to give some details on the next title - CHAOS 6.
First off, I'd like to draw attention to this tweet:
Seriously considering making a pinball game after Project Plasma 2
— Archangel Atom (@ArchangelDPX) December 28, 2015
And that's exactly what CHAOS 6 is going to be.CHAOS 6 is a 2D pinball game heavily inspired by Psycho Pinball, a similar DOS-based game from 1995 which I started playing again via DOSBox. This is going to be the first Chaos Symbol game to not use GameMaker: Studio. Instead, this will be a free game that will be made using Scirra Construct 2, as this game is free, there will be no pre-orders and no bonus game being released alongside it.
I was originally planning on doing an engine switch with CHAOS 4 (Thallium) where I planned on using an engine called Duality, however the learning curve here was far too steep and I was running low on time so I decided to stick with GM: Studio.
CHAOS 6's development will start as soon as this blog post is out, however once I get GM: Studio back up and running then I'll be back to developing Iron. Expect CHAOS 6 to arrive late 2016.
23 December 2015
Iron and its Catastrophic Development
Iron is being released on Christmas Day... but not as a full game... or even an open beta.
Progress on Iron has been well... shit...
There is absolutely no way I'll get even the main storyline done by the 25th December deadline which is just over a day away however I don't want to leave you guys hanging so I've decided to do several things.
Progress on Iron has been well... shit...
There is absolutely no way I'll get even the main storyline done by the 25th December deadline which is just over a day away however I don't want to leave you guys hanging so I've decided to do several things.
- Release Iron as a WIP-game with the unusually low version number of 0.7. This will be open to all and will be a closed alpha at v0.8. It will then once again be available to everyone as an open beta at v0.9. I hope to get to v0.8 (completed storyline) by the new year.
- Slash the price of Iron down to $1.00 USD until the open beta. This price slash is effective immediately and will be applied on top of the current 60% sale that is happening right now as part of this year's Chaos Symbol sale. The price will return to $1.50 when it hits v0.9. Thallium will remain a bonus game for Iron until v1.0.
I have spoken out against releasing incomplete games in the past, however this will be a one-off as I did promise I'd upload whatever I had by Christmas and I do not intend to do a U-turn on that topic.
I'm sorry this has happened and it won't happen again. I will make sure the first mission at least is done by the time it gets released but Iron's development process has been a complete disaster. Project Plasma's was bad, PPM's wasn't much better, but Iron has definitely taken home the prize so far.
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